41 Best Sights in North-Central Arizona, Arizona

Two miles west of Sedona via AZ 89A is the turnoff for this 286-acre state park, a less crowded alternative to Slide Rock State Park, though without the possibility of swimming. The 5 miles of interconnected trails are well marked and provide beautiful red rock vistas. There are daily naturalist-led walks and bird-watching excursions on Wednesday and Saturday.

This artifact of Flagstaff's logging heyday is near Northern Arizona University. The centerpiece is a mansion built in 1904 for Michael and Timothy Riordan, lumber-baron brothers who married two sisters. The 13,300-square-foot, 40-room log-and-stone structure—designed by Charles Whittlesley, who was also responsible for El Tovar Hotel at the Grand Canyon—contains furniture by Gustav Stickley, father of the American Arts and Crafts design movement. One room holds "Paul Bunyan's shoes," a two-foot-long pair of boots made by Timothy in his workshop. Everything on display is original to the house. The inside of the mansion may be explored only by guided tour (hourly on the hour); reservations are suggested. You can explore the exterior on a self-guided tour.

The 3,000 Ancestral Pueblo petroglyphs on this working cattle ranch in Chevelon Canyon are startlingly vivid after more than 1,000 years. Ranch owner Brantly Baird and family will guide you down to the canyon, explaining Western and archaeological history. It's mostly an easy driving and walking tour, except for the climb in and out of Chevelon Canyon, where there are handrails. Baird houses his Native American artifacts and pioneer farming implements in his own private museum. It's out of the way and on a dirt road, but you'll see some of the best rock art in northern Arizona. Reservations are required.

Local pioneer history is documented at this remarkable museum, the creative vision of historian and poet Sharlot Hall. Along with an original 1863 ponderosa pine log cabin and the mansion which housed the territorial governor in 1864, the parklike museum contains several additional restored period homes and a transportation exhibit housed in a former auto repair shop circa 1937. Territorial times are the focus, but natural history and artifacts of the area's prehistoric peoples are also on display.

A good place for a picnic, Slide Rock is 7 miles north of Sedona. On a hot day you can plunge down a natural rock slide into a swimming hole (bring an extra pair of jeans or a sturdy bathing suit and river shoes to wear on the slide). The site started as an early-20th-century apple orchard, and the natural beauty attracted Hollywood—a number of John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart movies were filmed here.

A few easy hikes run along the rim of the gorge. One downside is the traffic, particularly on summer weekends; you might have to wait to get into the park after midmorning. Unfortunately the popularity of the stream has led to the occasional midsummer closing due to E. coli–bacteria infestations; the water is tested daily, and there is a water-quality hotline at 602/542--0202.

Kids love this butte that looks uncannily like the famed Peanuts beagle lying atop red rock instead of his doghouse. You can distinguish the formation from several places around town, including the mall in Uptown Sedona, but to get a clear view, venture up Schnebly Hill Road. Park by the trailhead on the left immediately before the paved road deteriorates to dirt. Marg's Draw, one of several trails originating here, is worthwhile, gently meandering 100 feet down-canyon, through the tortured desert flora to Morgan Road. Backtrack to the parking lot for close to a 3-mile hike.

Sunset Crater, a cinder cone that rises 1,000 feet, was an active volcano 900 years ago. Its final eruption contained iron and sulfur, which give the rim of the crater its glow and thus its name. You can walk around the base, but you can't descend into the huge, fragile cone. The Lava Flow Trail, a half-hour, mile-long, self-guided walk, provides a good view of the evidence of the volcano's fiery power: lava formations and holes in the rock where volcanic gases vented to the surface.

If you're interested in hiking a volcano, head to Lenox Crater, about 1 mile east of the visitor center, and climb the 280 feet to the top of the cinder cone. The cinder is soft and crumbly, so wear sturdy, closed-toe shoes. From O'Leary Peak, a 5-mile hike from the visitor center on Forest Route 545A, enjoy great views of the San Francisco Peaks, the Painted Desert, and beyond. The trail is an unpaved, rutted road (closed during winter), with a steep 2½-mile hike to the top. To get to the area from Flagstaff, take Santa Fe Avenue east to U.S. 89, and head north for 12 miles; turn right onto the road marked Sunset Crater and go another 2 miles to the visitor center.

Impressive in scope, Tuzigoot National Monument is a complex of the Sinagua people, who lived on this land overlooking the Verde Valley from about AD 1000 to 1400. The pueblo, constructed of limestone and sandstone blocks, once rose three stories and incorporated 110 rooms. Inhabitants were skilled dry farmers and traded with peoples hundreds of miles away. Implements used for food preparation, as well as jewelry, weapons, and farming tools excavated from the site, are displayed in the visitor center. Within the site, you can step into a reconstructed room.

Twenty saloons and bordellos once lined this stretch of Montezuma Street, along the west side of Courthouse Plaza. Social activity is more subdued these days, although live music pulses every evening, and the buildings have been beautifully restored. The historical bars provide an escape from the street's many boutiques.

Frequent flooding on the Little Colorado River frustrated the attempts of Mormon pioneers to settle here, but with the coming of the railroad the town roared to life. Later Route 66 sustained the community until Interstate 40 passed north of town. New motels and restaurants sprouted near the interstate exits, and the downtown was all but abandoned. Still, visitors wishing to find themselves "standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona" abound thanks to a song by The Eagles; and the historic masterpiece, La Posada, remains one of the best places to sleep and dine in the state. The town is 58 miles east of Flagstaff on Interstate 40.

Families from the Sinagua and other Ancestral Puebloans are believed to have lived together in harmony on the site that is now Wupatki National Monument, farming and trading with one another and with those who passed through. The eruption of Sunset Crater may have influenced migration to this area a century after the event, as freshly laid volcanic cinders held in moisture needed for crops. Although there's evidence of earlier habitation, most of the settlers moved here around 1100 and left the pueblo by about 1250. The 2,700 identified sites contain archaeological evidence of a Native American settlement.

The national monument was named for the Wupatki (meaning "tall house" in Hopi) site, which was originally three stories high, built above an unexplored system of underground fissures. The structure had almost 100 rooms and an open ball court—evidence of Southwestern trade with Mesoamerican tribes for whom ball games were a central ritual. Next to the ball court is a blowhole, a geologic phenomenon in which air is forced upward by underground pressure.

Other sites to visit are Wukoki, Lomaki, and the Citadel, a pueblo on a knoll above a limestone sink. Although the largest remnants of Native American settlements at Wupatki National Monument are open to the public, other sites are off-limits. On Saturdays November through April, free guided 3-mile hikes to backcountry pueblos and petroglyphs are offered (reservations required). Between the Wupatki and Citadel ruins, Doney Mountain affords 360-degree views of the Painted Desert and the San Francisco Volcanic Field. It's a perfect spot for a sunset picnic. In summer rangers give lectures.