Red Rock Pass in Sedona: Do You Need One, and Where to Buy It

The Red Rock Pass is required at the roughly 23 sites the Forest Service calls its standard fee sites, the trailheads used for the postcard views of Cathedral Rock, Bell Rock and both short Devil's Bridge approaches. It is not required to drive into Sedona, to park in Uptown, to browse Tlaquepaque or to stop at the Chapel of the Holy Cross; those sit on private or municipal land, not on Coconino National Forest land, so no Forest Service pass applies there at all. The line to remember: if the parking lot has a brown Forest Service fee-station post, the pass or its substitute is required; if it does not, it is not.

Standard sites, Red Rock Pass or the federal pass accepted

• Baldwin Trailhead
• Bell Rock Pathway / Bell Rock Vista
• Bell Trailhead
• Bootlegger Picnic Area
• Boynton Canyon Trailhead
• Bruce Brockett Trailhead
• Cathedral Rock Trailhead
• Courthouse Vista
• Crane Petroglyph (V-Bar-V) Heritage Site
• Doe Mountain / Bear Trailhead
• Dry Creek Trailhead
• Encinoso Picnic Site
• Fay Canyon Trailhead
• Halfway Picnic Site
• Honanki Heritage Site
• Huckaby Trailhead
• Jim Thompson Trailhead
• Lake Mary Narrows
• Lava River Cave
• Mescal Trailhead
• Midgley Bridge
• Palatki Heritage Site
• Upper Lake Mary
• Yavapai Vista

Five sites it will not cover

These are concessionaire-managed, so the Red Rock Pass and the federal Interagency pass are both refused at the gate. Each takes either its own posted day fee or the separate Coconino Hospitality Annual Pass ($25 weekly, $50 annual, sold on the same fs.usda.gov program page).

• Call of the Canyon / West Fork Trailhead, $15 a day for up to 5 people, $4 for a walk-in with no vehicle
• Crescent Moon Picnic Site
• Grasshopper Point Swimming & Picnic Area
• Beaver Creek Day Use Picnic Site
• Lower Lake Mary Picnic Area

The Forest Service's own program page says it plainly: "The ATB Pass can be used in lieu of a Red Rock Pass at many Sedona-area Coconino National Forest sites." That covers every standard site listed above, but not the five concessionaire sites, which need the separate Coconino Hospitality Annual Pass regardless of which federal pass you carry.

The America the Beautiful (Interagency) Pass costs $80 for a year, covers this vehicle's occupants, and is honored at National Park Service, Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and several other federal agencies' sites nationwide, per nps.gov. It is non-refundable, non-transferable and, on the same official page, explicitly "cannot be replaced if lost or stolen." For a Sedona-only trip that is not visiting other federal land, the $20 annual Red Rock Pass is the cheaper choice by a wide margin. The math changes the moment Grand Canyon or the Verde Valley monuments are also on the itinerary.

What the same trip costs paying gate by gate, against the one $80 pass, using this guide's own figures for the fees each site actually charges:

At $65 against $80 this particular combination does not quite break even; the pass earns its price back on a fourth federal stop, or on a return trip within the year. It never substitutes at Slide Rock or Red Rock State Park, both run by Arizona State Parks rather than a federal agency, and both charge their own per-vehicle fee covered on the Sedona fees hub.

Three ways to get a Red Rock Pass, all selling the same $5/$15/$20 tiers.

• Online at Recreation.gov before the trip, printed or saved to a phone.
• At the self-serve fee-machine kiosk standing at nearly every fee trailhead; card is preferred, cash payments need exact change.
• In person at the Red Rock Ranger Visitor Center, 8375 State Route 179, Sedona, AZ 86351, phone 928-203-2900. Hours are not published on the Forest Service program page, so call ahead rather than planning a visit around it.

Displaying it

One pass covers one vehicle, not one person, so a carload splits the cost naturally. Write the date on the daily pass if it is not printed, tear off the correct stub for weekly and annual passes, and leave it visible on the dashboard the way a parking permit works everywhere else. Nothing about the pass is checked at the trail itself; a ranger or a fee-compliance patrol checks it through the windshield.

Three things people ask about, and what the Forest Service and Park Service actually publish on the pages this guide checked on 2026-09-09.

Parked without a pass

The Forest Service's Red Rock and Coconino Passes page does not state a fine amount or a citation process for parking at a fee site without a valid pass. That is not this guide declining to print a number; it is the program page's own silence on it. Treat 'not posted' as still enforced, not as a loophole.

Lost or stolen pass

No replacement or refund policy is published for a lost Red Rock Pass either. The America the Beautiful pass is explicit on this point, on its own official page: non-refundable, non-transferable, and "cannot be replaced if lost or stolen." Expect the same rule to apply to the cheaper Forest Service pass by default, and buy a new one rather than counting on a replacement.

Unused days on a weekly or annual pass

Neither pass publishes a partial-use refund. A weekly pass bought for a trip that ends early does not prorate back, and the annual pass has the same silence on early cancellation. Photograph the pass and the purchase receipt before leaving the vehicle; it is the only proof available if a compliance check happens while the physical pass is misplaced inside the car.