Picture Canyon Natural and Cultural Preserve

Picture Canyon Natural and Cultural Preserve is a 478-acre archaeological site and nature preserve in north-eastern Flagstaff, Arizona, open to the public year-round for ecological, geological and archaeological education alongside general outdoor recreation. The City of Flagstaff purchased the preserve from the State Land Department at a public auction on 30 October 2012 for $4.8 million, after community groups had rehabilitated the area and campaigned for decades for its protection; it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 10 January 2008. An agreement with the adjoining Wildcat Hill Wastewater Treatment Plant supplies reclaimed water to a pond feeding the Rio de Flag through a basalt canyon, sustaining riparian habitat. Between AD 700 and 1300 the area was home to the Northern Sinagua people, who created the dense concentration of petroglyphs that gives the canyon its name; hundreds of panels depict archers, geometric shapes and animals. Three trails cross the preserve, including the 2.8-mile Tom Moody Trail outer loop, which passes a waterfall and a waterbird petroglyph site, and a 1.5-mile section of the 800-mile Arizona Trail, running from Mexico to Utah.

Where it is

Picture Canyon Natural and Cultural Preserve is a canyon near Flagstaff, in Coconino County. It is one of the canyons in this database, and appears in the statewide ranking of Arizona attractions.

How this ranking was reached

No official visitor count is published for Picture Canyon Natural and Cultural Preserve, 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: Wikivoyage(opens in a new tab)
• County: U.S. Census geography via FCC Area API, resolved from coordinates
• Official site: https://www.flagstaff.az.gov/2881/Picture-Canyon(opens in a new tab)

Record last verified 2026-08-12.