Coconino National Forest

Rank in Arizona: #57of 727 ranked
Overall score: Score 55.1 out of 100medium confidence
Category: Natural Landmark

The Coconino National Forest is a United States national forest of 1.856 million acres in northern Arizona, in the vicinity of Flagstaff, with elevations ranging from 2,600 feet to 12,633 feet at Humphreys Peak, the highest point in the state. Established in 1898 as the San Francisco Mountains National Forest Reserve, it was designated a national forest by President Theodore Roosevelt on 2 July 1908, when that reserve was merged with land from other surrounding forest reserves. Its landscapes include deserts, ponderosa pine forests, flatlands, mesas, alpine tundra and ancient volcanic peaks. The forest surrounds the towns of Sedona and Flagstaff and borders four other national forests: the Kaibab to the west and north-west, the Prescott to the south-west, the Tonto to the south and the Apache-Sitgreaves to the south-east. It contains all or part of nine designated wilderness areas, among them the Kachina Peaks Wilderness, which includes the summit of the San Francisco Peaks. Headquartered in Flagstaff, it is divided into the Flagstaff, Mogollon Rim and Red Rock ranger districts.

Where it is

Coconino National Forest 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.

How this ranking was reached

No official visitor count is published for Coconino National Forest, 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.

Sources

Public interest: Wikimedia pageviews (en.wikipedia, human traffic), 2024
Coordinates and designations: Wikidata(opens in a new tab)
County: U.S. Census geography via FCC Area API, resolved from coordinates
Official site: http://www.fs.usda.gov/coconino(opens in a new tab)

Record last verified 2026-08-12.

More photographs

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Public domain · source(opens in a new tab)

Nearby attractions

3.0 miles away
Bell Rock
A butte of 4,919 feet south of Sedona, beside Courthouse Butte, with a moderate route to a plateau on its north-west face.
Natural Landmark
4.6 miles away
Cathedral Rock
A sandstone butte near Sedona rising to 4,967 feet, reached by a short, steep trail from the Back O' Beyond trailhead.
Natural Landmark
5.2 miles away
Chapel of the Holy Cross
A Roman Catholic chapel built into the red rock buttes of Sedona between 1954 and 1956, listed on the National Register in 2011.
Historic Site
5.3 miles away
Crescent Moon Ranch
A Coconino National Forest day-use area on Oak Creek at Red Rock Crossing, where the water reflects Cathedral Rock — a view the Forest Service describes as one of the most photographed scenes in the Southwest. Paved paths run through picnic grounds to shallow water people wade and fish in, and a day-use fee applies. The site was a working cattle ranch; its buildings and waterwheel remain, and the ranch house is rented out by the Forest Service.
Natural Landmark
5.4 miles away
Red Rock State Park
286 acres of red sandstone canyon south-west of Sedona, kept as a day-use park for the habitat along Oak Creek.
State Park
6.1 miles away
Broken Arrow Trail
A 2-mile, cairn-marked Sedona trail to Chicken Point, passing Submarine Rock and shared with Pink Jeep tours and mountain bikers.
Natural Landmark