Vultee Arch Trail: Sedona's No-Pass Arch Hike

By The Lowdown Guide Editorial Team · Visited April 2026 · Updated May 2026

Trailhead Access: Driving FR-152 to the End

Vultee Arch trailhead sits at the end of FR-152, also known as Dry Creek Road, in northwest Sedona. From the AZ-89A and Dry Creek Road intersection, head north on Dry Creek Road. The first 2 miles are maintained graded dirt suitable for standard passenger cars in dry conditions. Past mile 2, the road roughens considerably. Monsoon season (July through September) can leave washouts, ruts, and soft sandy sections between miles 2 and 5. High-clearance vehicles are recommended from mile 2 onward year-round and are essential after any recent heavy rain.

The Sterling Pass trailhead junction appears on the left side of FR-152 at approximately mile 3.5. Continue past it for the Vultee Arch trailhead at the end of the road, roughly mile 5. The final lot holds approximately 15 vehicles. There is no overflow parking. The lot does not require a Red Rock Pass — a notable exception among Sedona hikes. This means no fee kiosk and no $5/day charge. The pass-free status, combined with the 15-car lot cap, makes this the most crowd-limited arch experience in the area.

The adjacent Sterling Pass Trail shares the FR-152 corridor but has its own trailhead 1.5 miles before the Vultee Arch lot. Both trails can be accessed in the same drive. The Sterling Pass lot is slightly larger (roughly 20 spots) and also lacks a pass requirement at this access point, though conditions vary seasonally.

The Trail: Sterling Canyon to the Unmarked Slickrock Finish

From the trailhead, the Vultee Arch Trail enters Sterling Canyon immediately and follows the canyon floor upstream. The canyon provides intermittent shade from cottonwood and Arizona sycamore, making this one of the cooler hikes in the area during summer mornings. The grade is gradual throughout the main canyon section — this is the easy-moderate designation's easy portion. Trail surface is primarily sandy, with some rocky sections near the canyon walls.

At approximately 1.5 miles, the canyon narrows and the trail begins climbing more steeply toward the upper canyon wall. The signed trail effectively ends where the canyon opens onto bare slickrock. The final 0.2 miles is completely unmarked. Hikers must navigate on their own to the arch. The key navigation cue: when you reach open slickrock, stop and look up and to the right (east-northeast). The arch is at elevation — approximately 100 feet above you — and spans a gap in the upper sandstone wall. It is clearly visible once you stop looking straight ahead and look up.

The arch itself is approximately 80 feet wide — larger than it appears from the base of the slickrock approach. Most hikers scramble up to the base of the arch for a closer view but do not climb onto it. The return follows the same canyon route back to the trailhead. Because the canyon provides shade in the morning and the trail is relatively short, Vultee Arch is more heat-tolerant than most Sedona hikes, though midday in July remains inadvisable.

Trail Breakdown: Mile by Mile

History: Gerard Vultee and the 1938 Crash

The arch takes its name from Gerard Vultee, one of the most important American aircraft designers of the 1930s. Vultee had previously served as chief engineer at Lockheed and went on to found the Vultee Aircraft Corporation, which later merged into Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation (Convair). On January 29, 1938, Vultee and his wife Sylvia were killed when their Stinson SR aircraft flew into a snowstorm and crashed on East Pocket, the mesa directly above Sterling Canyon. He was 38 years old.

The crash site on East Pocket is above and beyond the arch itself and is not reachable from the standard Vultee Arch Trail route. Some hikers familiar with the area have located debris from the crash site, but there is no marked path to it. The arch was named to commemorate Vultee after the crash was publicized. It remains the most significant historical marker in the Sterling Canyon corridor today.

The Sterling Pass Trail, which shares the FR-152 access road, climbs to the Sterling Pass saddle above the canyon and is the only trail that approaches the upper mesa area near East Pocket. It is a hard trail (4.6 mi RT, 1,100 ft gain) and does not lead to the crash site, but provides context for the elevation and terrain Vultee's aircraft encountered. The Boynton Canyon Trail is the other major west Sedona corridor hike, accessible via a different road from the area.