Thanksgiving Week Closes Sedona's Weekday Trailhead Lots. Here's the Rest of November's Trail Calendar.
The gate schedule for the Soldier Pass trailhead lot is a two-row table. Monday through Wednesday, the gate opens at 8:00 a.m. and closes at 6:00 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, it says "Closed" in both columns, because the Sedona Shuttle is running. For most of the year, that table is the deal: visitors get the shuttle on Thursday through Sunday, and anyone free early in the week can drive to the trailhead.
That deal is suspended from Nov. 19 through Nov. 29, 2026. It's the last change on a month of trail schedules that started in early November, and each one takes away a little more of the usual options. The weekday lots go last, and they're the ones most likely to surprise people who hike midweek.
The Sedona Mountain Bike Festival runs Friday through Sunday, Nov. 6 to 8, with its expo at 525 Posse Ground Road. The schedule opens before the weekend. A Forest Service and Specialized Soil Searching work day at Jim Thompson Trailhead was set for Wednesday, Nov. 4, to tune up the Adobe Jack network, and packet pickup is Thursday, Nov. 5.
The published group-ride schedule shows which trails will see groups of riders each day:
The festival also runs its own shuttle on top of the group rides: nine vans making one-way trips to Dry Creek, Scorpion/Sedona High School and Broken Arrow/Yavapai Vista. They serve the Chuckwagon/Mescal/Aerie, Scorpion/Pyramid/Skywalker and Broken Arrow/Templeton/Hi-Line areas. The vans start at 10 a.m., the last outbound trip leaves at 3 p.m. and the last return to the expo is at 5 p.m. If you're picking a quiet loop that weekend, the busiest stretch on those networks will be late morning through mid-afternoon.
Parking at the expo is tight on purpose. The festival charges $10 per vehicle unless there are at least two people in the car or the driver has a festival pass. It says the fee exists "to incentivize people to carpool because space is so limited," and that all parking profits go to local trail groups. Walking in is free, and so is the free bike valet, first-come, first-served. Sedona Shuttle Connect is on the access list too. Connect is $2 a ride from home to any of the three trailhead park-and-ride lots, and it runs a half hour before and after trailhead shuttle hours. The Verde Valley Cyclists Coalition's event notice also warns that parking is limited and asks people to carpool or bike in.
Festival Saturday also has a free event off the trails. Tlaquepaque Arts & Shopping Village at 336 State Route 179 hosts a Cultural Gathering on Nov. 7 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Traditional Bird Singers and Yavapai Elder Rafeal Bear will honor the Red Rocks in the Yavapai language. Sedona.biz reports it is the first event of its kind in Sedona, organized by Waldine Fox for Native American Heritage Month. First Friday at Tlaquepaque runs the evening before, from 4 to 7 p.m.
The festival lasts three days, and the West Fork closure covers the whole winter. Forest Order 03-04-00-26-09 has closed the West Fork drainage and Trail 108 from Nov. 1, 2026, through Feb. 28, 2027. That takes the best-known canyon hike in Oak Creek out of the rotation for the whole winter.
In the Coconino National Forest's Oct. 27 release, the Forest Service says repeated rain has moved large boulders and forest debris across much of the trail. Reopening depends on more than cleanup:
"Trail work, possible rerouting, debris removal, and a consultation process with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) will need to be completed before the trail is reopen."
The consultation is required because West Fork is critical habitat for the narrow-headed garter snake. The species was listed as threatened in 2014, and its habitat was designated critical in 2021. The release says West Fork stays closed until that work and consultation are done, so the Feb. 28 date in the order is a checkpoint, and the trail won't necessarily reopen then. Oak Creek Canyon and the Call of the Canyon day-use area remain open.
The next change starts in November in the Turkey Creek area. The Sedona Red Rocks Trail Fund says the Red Rock Ranger District and its partners begin Year 2, Phase III of the Turkey Creek Trail System in November. About 7.1 miles of trail will get construction, completion, reroutes or significant refinement during the 2026–27 season. That includes roughly 0.98 miles of the mostly built eastern end of Upside Dawn, which gets final tuning before it opens.
The building comes with another round of social-trail and meadow restoration, aimed at moving riders and hikers onto designated routes. Last season's work added new trails, including Pedal Up, High Noon, Hyena, Rodeo and Third Rock, and adopted Lion King, Longshot, Pony Up and Giddy Up into the system. The Trail Fund's May update listed restoration closures around the Longshot and Turkey Creek system trails, Giddy Up, Hyena and High Noon, and Del Sol toward Transept Trailhead.
All trail names in the 2026–27 plan are working names, and start points and alignments may change. The Trail Fund asks that nobody add these routes to Trailforks or Strava until the Forest Service or the Verde Valley Cyclists Coalition and Trail Fund release final versions.
By the week before Thanksgiving, West Fork is closed and Turkey Creek social trails are closing for restoration. Then the shuttle calendar takes away the Monday through Wednesday parking. The Sedona Shuttle's holiday calendar lists daily service from Nov. 19 through Nov. 29, 2026, except Thanksgiving Day. The Cathedral Rock and Soldier Pass lots are closed to the public whenever the shuttle runs.
| Day | A normal week | Nov. 19 to 29, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Lots open; Soldier Pass gate 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. | Shuttle runs, lots closed |
| Tuesday | Lots open; Soldier Pass gate 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. | Shuttle runs, lots closed |
| Wednesday | Lots open; Soldier Pass gate 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. | Shuttle runs, lots closed |
| Thursday | Shuttle runs, lots closed | Nov. 19 shuttle runs; Nov. 26 no service |
| Friday to Sunday | Shuttle runs, lots closed | Shuttle runs, lots closed |
Shuttle hours are 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Riders board at three free park-and-ride lots. The North SR 179 lot at 1294 SR 179 serves Cathedral Rock and Little Horse and holds 65 vehicles. Posse Grounds at 20 Carruth Drive serves Soldier Pass and holds 260. West SR 89A at 905 Upper Red Rock Loop Road serves Mescal and Dry Creek Vista, the access point for Devil's Bridge, and holds 91. Shuttle riders don't need a Red Rock Pass at the trailhead.
Soldier Pass gets the least frequent service of any route. Under the city's Forest Service special use permit, Line 14 can carry only 300 passengers to that trailhead per service day. That cap still applies on the extra weekdays. For scale, the City reports a record 358,813 trailhead shuttle rides in fiscal year 2025, up 2.7% from FY2024.
There's one more rule. Little Horse Trailhead parking is not meant to be overflow for Cathedral Rock.
Thursday, Nov. 26, has no shuttle service. The FAQ says the Cathedral Rock lot is open whenever the shuttle isn't running. Parking at the other trailheads follows Forest Service rules, and the Soldier Pass trailhead and lot are always closed from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m.
The 17th Annual Sedona Turkey Trot 5K is also that morning. It starts at 9 a.m. at Posse Grounds Park, 525 Posse Grounds Road. RunSignup listed $40 for the 5K and $20 for the kids' 5K for ages 13 and under, with prices going up after Oct. 31. Check the page for the current fee. On Thanksgiving you can drive to Cathedral Rock and also have the race over by midmorning, which isn't possible on any other day from Nov. 19 to 29.
The holiday calendar has more service days after Thanksgiving:
Christmas Day works like Thanksgiving: no shuttle, so the Cathedral Rock lot is open. West Fork stays closed by forest order for all of it.
If you host guests in a Sedona rental, or you're buying one where trailhead access sells the stay, the shuttle calendar matters as much as the view. Martin de Bókay tracks these schedules for clients so their listings and guest guides stay accurate. Schedule your Sedona investment consult.
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