Broken Arrow Trail

Chicken Point, 1.5 miles one way

The Forest Service's own routing ends the description simply: "continue to the end of the trail at Chicken Point at 1.5 miles for more great views." It's an open slickrock overlook with sweeping red-rock views in most directions, and the name comes from the exposed final approach that some visitors find intimidating enough to turn back from, hence "chicken." There is no fence, no rail and no marked stopping line; the overlook is simply where the maintained trail ends.

Submarine Rock, a signed detour about half a mile short of Chicken Point

About 2 miles from the trailhead, roughly half a mile before Chicken Point on the return leg, a signed side path leads to Submarine Rock, a long, low sandstone formation the Forest Service's own description invites visitors to walk across before returning to the main trail. It's an easy add-on rather than a separate commitment, and it's the feature that turns the 1.5-mile one-way walk into the roughly 3.5-mile roundtrip figure most people quote for the full trip.

Shared use: walkers, mountain bikers and jeep tours on the same ground

This trail's defining fact isn't its length, it's who else is on it. The Forest Service's own page states plainly that the trail "is heavily used by mountain bikers, so be sure to keep an eye out for them," and separately that "the adjacent roads are used by Jeep tours." Nothing on the fetched page states a formal right-of-way rule, no published "hikers yield to bikers" or "walkers have priority over vehicles" line. The guidance amounts to stay alert, not a rulebook. In practice that means slickrock sections wide enough for a jeep to pass are also the sections a mountain biker descends at speed, and a walker on this trail is sharing sightlines and stopping points with both.

The practical result on the ground is a trail that reads differently depending on the hour. A jeep grinding slowly up a slickrock rise makes noise well before it's visible, which gives a walker time to step aside; a mountain biker coming down the same rise from behind gives far less warning, and the Forest Service's specific call-out to watch for them is the closest thing to a safety rule this trail publishes. None of that is a reason to skip Broken Arrow. It is a reason to walk it with your attention on the trail rather than only on the view, and to treat every blind rise and every patch of open slickrock as a place something with wheels might appear.

The red rock underfoot

Most of this trail runs over exposed slickrock, the eroded red sandstone that gives Sedona its skyline, interspersed with stretches of packed dirt track closer to the trailhead. The rock is grippy and dry underfoot in normal conditions, which is exactly why it draws jeep tours and mountain bikers in the first place, but it turns slick and considerably less predictable when wet, and there's no shade anywhere along the route to dry a surface out quickly after rain. None of this is an official Forest Service warning, just the plain read of an exposed sandstone trail with no tree cover: check the forecast, not just the mileage, before you go.

The variable here is the Submarine Rock detour, not Chicken Point itself. Walking straight there and back is a short, direct out-and-back; adding the signed side path roughly doubles the round trip.

From the junction of Routes 89A and 179 in Sedona, the Forest Service's directions are: take Route 179 south 1.4 miles to Morgan Road, turn left (east), continue 0.6 miles past where the pavement ends and a cattle guard, then about 80 yards more to the trailhead parking on the left.

Like Soldier Pass, this trailhead is not on the Coconino National Forest's standard Red Rock Pass fee-site list, so there is no per-vehicle charge and no pass to buy for the privilege of parking here. There is also no free Sedona Shuttle route to this trailhead, unlike Cathedral Rock, Soldier Pass or the Mescal and Dry Creek Vista stops on the Devil's Bridge approaches. If you're not driving yourself, there is no documented public-transit alternative to this trail.

• From SR 179/89A: south on 179 for 1.4 miles, left on Morgan Road, 0.6 miles past the pavement's end and cattle guard, then 80 yards more
• Not on the Red Rock Pass fee-site list. Free parking, no pass required
• No Sedona Shuttle service to this trailhead

- This trailhead is not on the Red Rock Pass list. Parking is free with no pass to buy, the same exemption Soldier Pass gets and Boynton Canyon and Doe Mountain don't [fs.usda.gov Broken Arrow Trail No. 125, read 2026-09-09]. - There's no formal yield rule between hikers, bikers and jeeps. The Forest Service's own page names all three user groups without stating who has right of way on the shared slickrock [fs.usda.gov Broken Arrow Trail No. 125]. - Submarine Rock is a signed detour, not the main trail's endpoint. It sits about half a mile before Chicken Point and the Forest Service treats it as an optional add-on, not a required stop [fs.usda.gov Broken Arrow Trail No. 125]. - There is no shuttle service to this trailhead. Unlike Cathedral Rock or Soldier Pass, Broken Arrow isn't on the Sedona Shuttle's route list, so driving yourself is the only documented way in [sedonashuttle.com, checked 2026-09-09]. - The trailhead access road includes a cattle guard and unpaved surface. The Forest Service's own directions describe pavement ending 0.6 miles before Morgan Road's trailhead lot [fs.usda.gov Broken Arrow Trail No. 125].

Walk this one early if a quiet Chicken Point matters more than convenience; jeep tours and mountain bikers pick up through the late morning and afternoon, and the shared slickrock gets noisier and dustier as the day goes on. An hour covers the direct walk to the overlook, 2.5 hours covers the full loop with Submarine Rock added in, and there's no shuttle to fall back on either way, so plan on driving yourself via Morgan Road off SR 179. Cathedral Rock and Bell Rock both sit a short drive away for a second stop, one a scramble and the other flat and paved. The full hiking trails list ranks everything else in town by difficulty and pass requirement.