Red Rock Pass Update Log

Site corrections, not program changes. Trail finder: the Sedona Trail Finder had been starting only for logged-in editors since its October 18 launch — the site’s caching layer wrapped the finder’s script in a way that stopped it running for visitors, who saw only the static trail table. Fixed and re-tested as an anonymous visitor on desktop and mobile. Navigation: “Find a Hike” added to the site menu on every page. Privacy: the privacy page now discloses the Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity measurement tools that were already in use but had not been listed. About: the About page now describes the trail finder. Facts re-checked the same day against the Forest Service’s passes-program page (prices and the 32-row fee-site table), West Fork closure order 03-04-00-26-007 (in effect through October 31, 2026, unless rescinded) and the 2026 fee-free list: no price, site-list or closure changes found.

Follow-up checks, later the same day. Fee-free days: Recreation.gov’s Red Rock Pass listing carries a longer fee-free list than the Forest Service’s national page, including Thanksgiving and Christmas 2026; the fee-free days page now shows both lists and the conflict. Palatki: tours were on sale on Recreation.gov for October 18 despite the Forest Service page’s unexplained “Site Temporarily Closed” banner. Soldier Pass: the trailhead is on neither the Forest Service’s fee-site table nor the Sedona Chamber’s 26-entry Red Rock Pass list, so the trailhead list and the shuttle page now say no official source lists a pass requirement there. Alerts form: the sign-up form on five pages had been pasted in as static HTML without the form plugin’s scripts, so it could not submit and no sign-ups had ever been recorded. It now loads live from the plugin, and a test submission was recorded and then removed.

Closures: the Forest Service lifted the post-Pocket Fire Oak Creek closure, order 03-04-00-26-005, on September 17, 2026. As of today, Grasshopper Point, Encinoso, Bootlegger and Midgley Bridge show no closure on their Forest Service pages; Halfway is still listed as closed for potential flooding; Banjo Bill remains closed under order 03-04-06-25-01, January 27, 2025 to January 27, 2027; and West Fork Trail No. 108 remains closed under order 03-04-00-26-007 through October 31, 2026. Slide Rock’s swim area shows normal hours. Updated on the Oak Creek Canyon, concession-site, trailhead, state parks and related pages.

Prices: the America the Beautiful annual pass is now shown as $80 for U.S. residents and $250 for nonresidents, the pricing in effect since January 1, 2026. The Coconino Hospitality pass’s $25 weekly version, previously marked unverified, is confirmed on the Forest Service’s passes page alongside the $50 annual. Red Rock Pass prices are unchanged at $5, $15 and $20; the 2025 proposal to raise them to $10, $30 and $60 has no published decision, and the prices page now explains it.

Correction: pass-choice arithmetic. The comparison page recommended the $15 weekly for “two or more days within a week,” but two daily passes cost $10 and three cost the same $15 as the weekly. The guidance now counts fee-site parking days: dailies for one or two, either option for three, the weekly from four days within seven, and the annual from five days in a year.

Site list: the trailhead table now follows the Forest Service’s “Sites That Require Passes” table, updated June 17, 2026 — 25 Red Rock Pass and America the Beautiful sites, 22 of them in the Red Rock Ranger District. Corrections: the Bell and Bruce Brockett trailheads are off I-17 at Wet Beaver Creek, not in Sedona, and the Bell row no longer links to a Bell Rock film; the separate “Schnebly Hill Trailhead” row duplicated the Huckaby Trailhead and was merged into it; Soldier Pass is flagged because it is not on the Forest Service table.

Phone numbers: the Coconino National Forest’s own pages — the Red Rock Ranger Visitor Center office page, fee-site pages and recent closure orders, including those naming the Red Rock Ranger District as contact — list (928) 203-2900, and that is now the main number shown across the site. The reader-reported (928) 203-7500 in our August 14 entry below is also official: the Forest Service’s national office directory lists it for the Red Rock Ranger District at the same address, and Recreation.gov’s Palatki page uses it for closure checks. Both numbers appear where it matters.

Fee-free days, buying and the photo-stop rule: September 17 and 26 have passed, leaving October 27 and November 11 as 2026’s remaining Forest Service fee-free days. The Forest Service lists the Sedona Chamber of Commerce as a Red Rock Pass seller and says the Recreation.gov help center can modify the plate on a valid online pass. The 15-minute photo-stop wording is published by Visit Sedona; the Forest Service’s current passes page and July 2024 guide do not contain it, and the 15-minute rule page now says so.

Correction: eight fee sites that appear in the Forest Service and Sedona Chamber lists we work from were missing from our published table — Baldwin, Bell, Boynton Canyon, Bruce Brockett, Fay Canyon, Huckaby, Jim Thompson, and Yavapai Vista. They have been added to the fee-site table. The omission was ours, not a change made by the Forest Service, and we still publish no definitive count of covered sites because written confirmation from the Red Rock Ranger District has not arrived.

Correction: the Red Rock Ranger District phone number shown across this site has been updated to (928) 203-7500 after reader confirmation. Logged here per our corrections policy.

This site launched. All fee data was verified against Forest Service and Sedona Chamber sources on launch day; written confirmation from the Red Rock Ranger District is still pending, and stamps across the site say so. Current prices were confirmed at $5, $15, and $20 per vehicle.

The Sedona Shuttle’s trailhead routes returned to full operation following the Pocket Fire disruptions. The four Oak Creek Canyon picnic sites — Banjo Bill, Bootlegger, Encinoso, and Halfway — remained closed on this date.

The Pocket Fire burned north of Sedona and forced closures across Oak Creek Canyon: Grasshopper Point, West Fork (Call of the Canyon), the four canyon picnic sites, and Slide Rock State Park’s swim area, which stays closed until October 1, 2026. The fire reached full containment in late July; closures have been lifting in phases since.

The Forest Service added June 6, 2026 — National Trails Day — as a tenth fee-free day for the year. Standard amenity day-use fees are waived on fee-free days; concession-operated sites may not participate.

The Grand Annual Pass — $40, later $45 — was discontinued and replaced by the $50 Coconino Hospitality Annual Pass, which covers the five concession-run sites rather than the trailheads sold at current prices. We log it undated rather than guess: no official announcement date has surfaced, and much of the web still lists the old pass as if it existed.