West Fork Trail: The Crossings, the Gate Fee and Where the Trail Ends

West Fork is the Sedona hike with no red rock underfoot and no view at the end, and it is still the one the Forest Service calls among the most popular on the whole forest. You walk up a creek between high canyon walls under maples, sycamores and firs, cross the water again and again on stepping stones, and turn around when the maintained trail gives out at the wilderness boundary. The decisions that matter are not about fitness. They are about shoes, about the fee at the gate that your Red Rock Pass does not cover, about when the lot fills in October, and about not going past the boundary with children or in storm season. Right now the first decision is simpler than all of those: the trail is closed until the end of October, and this page will tell you so at the top until it reopens.

Where: Call of the Canyon Picnic Site, west side of SR 89A in Oak Creek Canyon, 9.5 miles north of Sedona between mileposts 385 and 384, down a paved lane behind creekside houses (Forest Service directions) | Official figures: West Fork Trail No. 108, easy for the first 3 miles, 2–3 hours round trip for that section; 5,325 ft trailhead; 52 ft of gain at 1 mile, 107 ft at 2, 221 ft at 3; the full route is a rugged 14-mile wilderness route to Forest Road 231 with 1,178 ft of gain | Fee: concession day-use site — $15 per vehicle (up to 5 people), $4 per walk-in; Red Rock Pass and America the Beautiful not accepted | Hours: 7 AM–dusk April–September, 8 AM–dusk October–March | Shuttle: none

How far up West Fork are you going?

	The first mile or two	The maintained trail to the boundary	Past the wilderness boundary
What you get	The lodge ruins, the first crossings and the walls closing in — the character of the canyon without the full distance	The whole easy section: about 3 miles each way, the narrows, every crossing, and the end of the trail at the boundary sign	A wilderness route the Forest Service calls more strenuous, where you walk in the stream bed with no trail
Official numbers	52 ft of gain at 1 mile, 107 ft at 2	221 ft of gain at 3 miles; 2–3 hours round trip	14 miles end to end with 1,178 ft of gain; most people do a short taste and turn back
Feet	Dry with care in low water	Expect at least a few wet crossings in most seasons	Wet to the knees or deeper, by design
Best for	Families with young children, anyone short on time, fall-color visitors who want the canopy without the miles	Most hikers; the version the time estimate and the film are about	Experienced hikers in dry, settled weather, with water shoes and a turnaround time
Turnaround	Any crossing you do not like the look of	The boundary sign	Before any narrowing you could not retreat through if the water rose
Preview	The West Fork Trail Preview shows every crossing on the maintained trail in order, and the boundary where it ends.

The gate: a fee, not a pass

The West Fork trailhead is inside Call of the Canyon, a concession-run picnic site, and that changes the money. The Red Rock Pass that covers most Sedona trailheads is refused here, and so is the America the Beautiful pass — the Forest Service's own page for the site says both in plain words. You pay $15 per vehicle for the day, which covers up to five people, or $4 per person if you walk, bike or arrive by bus. Cash, check and card all work at the entrance. The one pass that does work is the Coconino Hospitality Annual Pass, $50, sold at the site, which also covers Crescent Moon and Grasshopper Point; a weekly option exists too, though the Forest Service prints two different prices for it on two pages, so take the number at the gate as the real one.

At Call of the Canyon	Detail (Forest Service, checked October 14, 2026)
Day fee	$15 per vehicle, up to 5 people; $4 per walk-in, bicycle, bus passenger or extra person
Not accepted	Red Rock Pass; America the Beautiful / Interagency pass
Accepted	Coconino Hospitality Annual Pass ($50); daily rate at the gate
Hours	April 1–September 30, 7 AM to dusk; October 1–March 31, 8 AM to dusk. Day use only — no pre-dawn starts, no camping
Facilities	Paved lot that "fills quickly"; vault toilets; no RVs, trailers or buses, 24-ft vehicle limit
Pets	Allowed on leash, controlled at all times, waste packed out

Two practical consequences follow from the hours. In October, when the lot is most contested, the gate does not open until eight, so the "arrive before dawn" plan that works at other Sedona trailheads does nothing here; the queue simply forms on the highway. And when the lot is full there is no shuttle, no overflow and no safe shoulder — Oak Creek Canyon's highway has little of it, and parking along it is both unsafe and cited. The Sedona trailhead parking guide covers the fallback plans lot by lot; the short version is to have a second canyon hike in mind before you drive up.

The walk, crossing by crossing

The trail starts wide and flat past the ruins of Mayhew Lodge, a canyon resort that burned decades ago and left stone walls and foundations that most people walk past without a glance. After that the canyon narrows and the walls go up — cream Coconino sandstone over red Supai, hundreds of feet of it on both sides, with firs growing from ledges that look too thin to hold them. The creek wanders from wall to wall across the canyon floor, and because the trail follows the floor, you cross it. The Forest Service says only that the trail crosses "in a number of places," usually on stepping stones or with a few steps through shallow water. Our own film of the maintained trail counts thirteen, and that is the number this page uses, with the caveat that high water merges some and dry spells turn others into a single step.

The crossings are the whole difficulty of the maintained trail, and they are a footwear question more than a fitness one. Early ones are wide, with obvious stones. The middle of the trail is where the creek runs closer to the walls, the stones sit further apart, and a misjudged step puts a foot in; this is also where a single trekking pole earns its place in the pack, because a third point of contact on wet, tilted sandstone is worth more than any amount of balance. Water depth follows the year — highest with spring snowmelt, lowest in early summer and fall, refreshed by monsoon storms — and the honest planning assumption in every season is that at least a few crossings will wet your feet.

You want	Wear	Also bring
Dry feet	Waterproof boots over the ankle, or closed-toe waterproof sandals	Spare socks in a sealed bag; a pole
To stop caring	Trail sandals or old sneakers with neoprene socks — often more comfortable than tiptoeing	A towel for the car
To go past the boundary	Water shoes and shorts you can hike wet in	Dry bags for anything that cannot get wet; a turnaround time you will keep
Children along	Water shoes from the first crossing; plan on wet	A full change of socks and the decision, made in advance, that getting wet is the fun part

Most people turn around where the maintained trail ends at the Red Rock–Secret Mountain Wilderness boundary, about 3 miles in. That is not a consolation point; it is the finish the Forest Service's 2–3 hour estimate assumes, and it comes after the best of the narrows. Budget longer than the mileage suggests. Nobody walks West Fork at their normal pace, because every crossing is a pause and every bend is a photograph, and the walk out takes about as long as the walk in.

Past the boundary sign

Beyond the sign the trail stops being a trail. The Forest Service describes the route from here as more strenuous and says plainly that you walk in the stream bed; the full line runs 14 miles to Forest Road 231 and gains most of its 1,178 feet in this section. In practice people wade, climb over flood debris, and route-find without markers, and the canyon gets narrower and deeper as it goes. A short way past the boundary on a settled summer day is a fine extension for experienced hikers in water shoes. A long way past it is a different sport. Nobody should be in the narrows in monsoon season when storms are building — the season officially runs June 15 through September 30, with the real storms usually arriving around early July — because water rises in a slot canyon faster than you can leave it, and there is no bailout; you return the way you came. The flash flood guide covers how to read the forecast for the canyon rather than for Sedona, which can be a different sky.

Difficulty, dimension by dimension

Dimension	Maintained trail (3 miles each way)	Beyond the boundary
Cardio	Low; 221 ft of gain over 3 miles, nearly flat	Moderate to high by distance and wading
Scrambling	None; a few steps on wet rock at crossings	Over flood debris and boulders in the creek
Exposure	None	None from height; real from water
Footing	Packed dirt and sand, then wet stepping stones — the crux of the whole hike	Submerged, uneven, cold
Navigation	Obvious; the crossings are signed by use, and the trail ends at a sign	None provided; the creek is the route
Heat	The shadiest trail near Sedona; cool even in July, and cold in winter shade	Water temperature is the limiting factor, not air

This is also a trail where the usual Sedona advice flips. Bring layers rather than sun protection, because the canyon floor sees direct sun only in bands and the air near the water stays cool. In winter that cool becomes ice on shaded stretches and at the crossings; traction devices are sensible from December through February, and the creek is cold enough that a slip is a real problem rather than a funny story.

October, and the rest of the year

West Fork is Arizona's best-known fall-color walk, and the bigtooth maples are the reason: for a few weeks, typically from the middle of October into early November, the canopy turns red and gold under the cream walls and the canyon becomes the busiest trail in the district. The Forest Service's own advice is to come on mornings or weekdays, and off-season if you can; in color season that translates to a weekday, at the gate when it opens, with somewhere else in mind if the lot is already full. A paved lot that fills quickly is the Forest Service's description, and it is not exaggerating.

The other seasons are easier and underrated. Spring brings songbirds and higher water from snowmelt — more wet crossings, fewer people. Summer is the one season when the canyon is the coolest place you could be, and when the crossings are at their easiest, though the Forest Service notes the trail may close during high fire danger, usually in late June, and monsoon afternoons rule out the narrows. Winter is icicles, lingering snow in the shade and almost nobody on the trail. After this year's closure, which follows the Pocket Fire, expect flood debris and changed crossings for a while even once the order is lifted; check the alerts page and read the trailhead board.

Dogs, bikes and the wilderness rules

Leashed dogs are allowed — the Forest Service's trail page and the picnic-site page both say so, and both add that waste must be bagged and carried out, with a pointed note that people unwilling to do that should not bring a pet. Earlier versions of this guide said dogs were banned here; that was wrong, and it has been corrected against the official pages. Bicycles are a different matter: the trail enters designated wilderness, where mechanized travel is prohibited, so bikes are out. Horses and pack animals are not allowed at the picnic site. The dog-friendly hikes guide explains why creek water and shade make this a better dog outing than most of Sedona in summer.

Who should choose something else

• While the closure is in force, everyone. Fay Canyon gives the enclosed, shaded canyon feeling in a short walk; the Templeton Trail creek section and the Baldwin Trail put you beside Oak Creek with red rock views. The Oak Creek Canyon hikes guide lists what else is open up the canyon.
• If you want the red rock Sedona is famous for: West Fork is cream walls and green canopy. For the classic view at the end of a walk, Doe Mountain or the Airport Mesa Loop.
• If the fee bothers you: your Red Rock Pass works at Huckaby, which reaches Oak Creek from the Midgley Bridge side (previewed in the Huckaby Trail Preview), and the where-it's-required guide separates the concession sites from the pass sites so you are not surprised twice.
• If you want shade without water crossings: the shaded hikes guide has the dry-footed options.

Questions people ask before they go

Is West Fork open? Not as this page is written: a Forest Service closure order runs through October 31, 2026, unless it is extended or lifted early. The notice at the top of this page is updated against the forest's alerts page; if the notice is gone, the trail is open.

How many creek crossings are there? The Forest Service does not give a number. Our film of the maintained trail counts thirteen, and the real count on your day depends on water: high flow joins some crossings together and low flow reduces others to a single step.

Does my Red Rock Pass work? No. Call of the Canyon is a concession day-use site; the Red Rock Pass and the America the Beautiful pass are both refused there, by the Forest Service's own statement. It is $15 per vehicle at the gate, or the $50 Coconino Hospitality Annual Pass.

Can I bring my dog? Yes, on a leash, with the waste carried out. The old version of this guide said otherwise and was wrong.

Is it good for children? The first mile or two is one of the better young-family walks near Sedona: flat, shaded and interesting at every crossing, provided everyone has agreed in advance that wet feet are part of it. The boundary is the limit for children, in every season.

How long does it take? The Forest Service allows 2–3 hours for the maintained 3 miles each way. With photographs and crossings, most groups use all of it; add the wait at the gate in October.

Last updated: October 21, 2026