Oak Creek Canyon, AZ

Oak Creek Canyon is a 13-mile gorge in northern Arizona between Flagstaff and Sedona, where State Route 89A drops through hairpin turns and follows Oak Creek toward the red rocks. The canyon walls range from roughly 800 to 2,000 feet deep, and the west rim stands higher than the east because of the faulting that shaped the canyon. Scattered homes and visitor stops follow the creek corridor, with the road, canyon walls, and creek shaping each bend.

ATTRPhoto by kevinzim at Flickr / CC BY 2.0

Life here follows the water, forest roads, and the Coconino National Forest. Red Rock–Secret Mountain Wilderness covers portions of the canyon, while Slide Rock State Park gives visitors a natural swimming hole and its famous smooth-rock slide. Forest Service trailheads, campgrounds, and seasonal traffic shape the local calendar; children in the CDP attend Flagstaff Unified, with Mount Elden Middle and Flagstaff High among the zoned schools. Oak Creek Canyon is not a conventional town grid. It is a narrow chain of water, cliffs, pullouts, cabins, trailheads, and school routes between two larger cities.