A sandstone butte near Sedona rising to 4,967 feet, reached by a short, steep trail from the Back O' Beyond trailhead.
Cathedral Rock is a natural sandstone butte near Sedona, Arizona, and one of the most photographed sights in the state. It stands in the Coconino National Forest in Yavapai County, about a mile west of State Route 179 and some 2.5 miles south of the junction of State Routes 179 and 89A in uptown Sedona, and its summit elevation is 4,967 feet. The Cathedral Rock trail, Forest Service trail 170, makes a short, steep ascent from the Back O' Beyond trailhead to the saddle points, or gaps, in the formation. Geologically the butte is carved from the Permian Schnebly Hill formation, a redbed sandstone formed from coastal sand dunes near the shoreline of the ancient Pedregosa Sea; ripple marks are prominent along the lower trail, and a black basalt dyke can be seen in the first saddle. Some early maps called the formation Court House Rock and gave the name Church House Rock to Courthouse Butte, a confusion that has persisted since.
Cathedral Rock is a natural landmark near Sedona, in Yavapai County. It is one of the natural landmarks in this database, and appears in the statewide ranking of Arizona attractions.
No official visitor count is published for Cathedral Rock, so its score rests on public interest and tourism significance, and is capped below the level a measured attraction can reach. That is why the medium confidence above is not higher. The weighting is explained in full on the methodology page, and every axis is broken out under Facts and sources at the foot of this page.
Note on the data: No official visitor count is published for this attraction.
Record last verified 2026-08-12.
0.9 miles away
1.7 miles away
2.0 miles away
2.1 miles away
2.7 miles away
3.0 miles away