Sedona Red Rock Trail Fund vision and mission

The Sedona Red Rock Trail Fund works in partnership with the Red Rock Ranger District and the community to raise funds to maintain and enhance the non-motorized trails near Sedona and the Village of Oak Creek.

Funds are raised first by seeking grants from foundations and governmental sources. We also seek contributions from local businesses. Our primary source of funding has been donations from generous individuals who love the trails and want to help protect our fragile environment.

Our Vision is to create self-sustaining funding source(s) to help maintain and enhance the non-motorized Forest System trails near Sedona and the Village of Oak Creek. To this end, we have created an endowment fund held by the Arizona Community Foundation, Sedona, to ensure that much needed funding continues.

Our Mission is to gather donations toward the maintenance and enhancement of non-motorized National Forest trails in, and around Sedona and the Village of Oak Creek.

The Sedona Red Rock Trail Fund has raised over $2,000,000 since inception in 2014. The chart below breaks down donations to the Trail Fund by Major Group during years 2019-2021.

Funding from the Sedona Red Rock Trail Fund has been vital and critical to United States Forest Service’s recent successes. Over time, the Red Rock Ranger District has used the Trail Funds to help preserve, protect, and grow the Trail System by:

• Increasing crew sizes from 4 to 12 to work on the trails

• Reducing the trail maintenance backlog

• Rerouting old trails to improve sustainability

• Building new trails to expand the trail system

• Repairing and replacing trail signs, cairns and kiosks

Special projects, such as the Cathedral Rock Renovation Project and updated Trail Signage, get a lot of attention and press. And while these special projects are extremely important, our regular routine maintenance is vital to keeping our trail system and fragile environment healthy.

Following are some of the maintenance activities conducted in December 2021 – March 2022 made possible by funding secured by the Sedona Red Rock Trail Fund.

Soldiers Pass Trail

• Delineated trail and OHV junction where they overlap to reduce vehicle incursions on nonmotorized routes and improve users experience  

• Closed wide spider web of social trails that have formed once the trail leaves the trailhead

• Completed rock work and retaining walls, to harden the trail drainage crossing and keep users on the system trail while also reducing erosion in sensitive soil areas

Sugarloaf/Teacup Trail

• Replaced six old cairns and constructed 5 new cairns  

• Installed new signs and junction maps at all locations to assist with clearer user information and enhance user experience

• Closed social trails in the area paralleling Teacup along the drainage and throughout the Sugarloaf loop/summit trails.

Big Park Loop Trail

• Constructed 750 feet of trail realignment utilizing larger climbing turns with natural dips in grade to aid in water drainage while creating a more desirable user experience

• Closed 330 feet of trail due to steep erosive alignment that requiring extensive rock armoring annually and restoration of the old alignment to naturalize it with the surround vegetation/topography

• Created more sustainable new route with built in grade reversals and lower grades to aid in lower maintenance requirements and to match the existing aesthetic of big park loops

To learn more about the Sedona Red Rock Trail Fund or to make a donation, visit our website at RedRockTrailFund.org.