Trail maps of Sedona, Arizona, show a spiderweb of trails branching out from the city’s central hub. Adding one or two trails here and there, like Hardline, is doable. Given the limited space, it’s hard to imagine fitting any more trails into the surrounding mesas.
Even so, more trails are coming… and not just a few. Over the next few years, a massive 35 miles of singletrack will be added to Sedona’s Turkey Creek zone.
Mountain bike mecca: Sedona, AZ
Every year, 3.5 million visitors travel to Sedona, a town of around 10,000 residents. Outdoor recreation is the area’s pull, with picturesque landscapes that look like they came off a postcard. Mountain biking tourism represents around 15%, or 525,000 of those visitors.
But mountain biking wasn’t always so popular in this Arizona town.
“It started off not the greatest relationship with land managers,” Lars Romig told us. Romig is a firefighter/paramedic in Sedona and a board member for the Verde Valley Cycling Coalition (VVCC), an organization he’s been with for twenty years. He is also the brains behind Sedona’s newest double black diamond, Hardline.
“[There was] a lot of struggle between land management and the cycling community for mountain bikes. Over the years, it’s been a big change in building a lot of relationships [with land managers] to get to where we had good, trustworthy relationships and a really proactive approach to planning and building,” Romig continued.
Thanks to the dedication of local mountain bikers and groups like VVCC in fostering strong relationships with land managers, Sedona has evolved into the mountain bike mecca it is today. Sedona boasts hundreds of trails, with terrain, features, and views like nowhere else.
And the network is still growing in places like Turkey Creek.
New trails coming to the Turkey Creek Trail System
In 2013, the VVCC went through a public planning process for the Red Rock Ranger District (RRRD), with help from the National Park Service (NPS) and their Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance (RTCA) program. As a result of this planning process, trails like Highline, Hangover, and Hogs were legalized and built, and the concept for Hardline was also in the plan. Other trails like Thunder Mountain, Aerie, and Teacup were also in the plan, whether new construction or re-routes.
“That [was] a 10-year plan,” Romig told us. “At the end of that 10-year plan was Turkey Creek.”
Turkey Creek is located on the southern end of Sedona and can be accessed through the Village of Oak Creek. If you have ridden some of Sedona’s most iconic trails, you’ve likely been on Turkey Creek’s doorstep.
To ride Sedona’s infamous Hiline trail, most mountain bikers will typically park at the Cathedral Rock Trailhead and take Templeton over to Slim Shady, connecting to Hiline. Roughly one and a half miles into Hiline, where Transept begins, there is a spectacular vista overlooking the valley. Across the valley and the redrock landscape is the Turkey Creek area.
A few established trails already exist in the zone. The first main trail goes by the same name — Turkey Creek — a black diamond out-and-back stretching over 4.5 miles from the trailhead. Over the 4.5 miles, riders can expect over 1000 feet of climbing, which switches to descending when you turn around and head back to the trailhead.
Fresh singletrack on the Del Sol trail
Del Sol is the second main trail in the area, and it was just recently completed. Del Sol is an intermediate trail stretching over three miles from the end of Transept, where it drops 445 feet, ending at the Turkey Creek Trailhead.
“Del Sol is definitely an easier trail. I would call it greenish to light blue,” Romig said. “Of course, because it is Sedona, we do get the rock ledges in there.”
For anyone who has ridden in Sedona, they know that a “green” Sedona trail is a blue anywhere else. The technical aspect of every trail can’t be understated, which gives rise to phrases like “Sedona miles.”
However, Romig said they tried to build Del Sol with as much flow as possible, saying the trail wouldn’t be too bad on a hardtail or fully rigid bike. While this certainly isn’t what you might expect of Sedona riding, Romig said it was done intentionally to give riders a break until they get further into the Turkey Creek Trail System.
Romig told us that they did take advantage of some existing social trails in the building of Del Sol. About half the trail was built using those social corridors, with many alterations along the way, while the other half was new construction.
The VVCC is still exploring the Turkey Creek area to see what’s possible
With Del Sol completed, the area will see roughly 32 more miles of trails. VVCC is still uncertain exactly how many trail segments will make up the entire 35 miles added to Turkey Creek. The group is working hard to explore the existing social trails that were used to create the trail corridors in the initial scoping. As their understanding of the trail corridors improves, they’ll gain a clearer picture of how many trail segments the final system will include.
While the total number of trails is still unknown, Romig told us that riders can expect stacked loops where the trails get more difficult the farther you get into the network. Turkey Creek also has a bit more elevation than other zones in Sedona. More difficult trails will be built at the higher elevations. Some trails are planned to reach 5,000 feet, and 900-foot descents are teased, which are substantial for the area.
Many of the other trails in the system will deliver the classic Sedona experience — technical, rugged terrain with punchy ups and rowdy downs. Elevation trail maps look like an EKG machine rather than a long climb with an equally long descent. Greens, blues, and blacks are expected at Turkey Creek. And while there may not be any double black trails, Romig told us there will certainly be some double black moves.
“[One section] will contour all the way across the back bowl of the entire Turkey Creek,” Romig told us. “[There] will be numerous descents coming off of it, back down into the basin. Now, a couple of those will be kind of like mini Hardlines.”
The usual methods for funding new trails are being used for the Turkey Creek project — grants, private donations, and fundraisers. Funds are actively being raised by groups like the Sedona Redrocks Trail Fund and VVCC. VVCC has partnered with RockShox to raffle off a fork of the winner’s choice. Funds from the raffle will go toward the Turkey Creek project.
Verde Valley Wheel Fun plays a particularly interesting role in Sedona’s trail projects. Wheel Fun partially supports Forest Service trail builders’ salaries, making 35 miles of new trails possible in three years.
Updated 9am MDT on May 22, 2025, to better reflect the established trail corridors and the 2013 planning process.
0 Comments