Slide Rock State Park (Sedona / Oak Creek Canyon)

When to arrive (crowds + lot)

Travellers keep asking when to arrive and whether midweek is still packed. Peak pressure is late spring through summer heat (roughly May–September). On busy days: aim for opening (check hours before you go), do not line up on the driveway or 89A before opening or when the lot is full, and expect vehicle entry only — Arizona State Parks prints that no walk-ins, drop-offs, or bicycle entries are permitted; admission is by vehicle through the entry station only. If you are turned away, this page offers no roadside-parking workaround; the park points to walksedona.com for Uptown public parking in Sedona proper, not as a Slide Rock walk-in path. When the lot is full or swimming is not the goal, the hot-day guide is the alternative. For day-shape from the Valley, use the Phoenix day-trip guide.

• Cool things to do on a hot day in Sedona, Arizona
• Sedona day trip from Phoenix / Scottsdale
• Red Rock Pass Sedona

Red Rock Pass is not Slide Rock admission

These are separate things. Slide Rock State Park entrance fee (Arizona State Parks) covers entry to Slide Rock only. A Red Rock Pass or America the Beautiful pass (USDA Forest Service / Coconino National Forest) covers many Sedona-area National Forest fee sites — not Arizona state parks. Coconino Hospitality concession sites such as West Fork / Crescent Moon / Grasshopper Point are also not Slide Rock. Forest Service tables list Slide Rock State Park under State Park Entrance Fee. Plan a Sedona trip also says America the Beautiful and the Red Rock Pass do not cover Arizona state parks; confirm on the park home and fees page, the facility information, and the Forest Service Red Rock & Coconino Passes program page. Fees from Arizona State Parks (read October 17, 2026): May–August 21, 2026 per vehicle (1–4 people) $30; August 22, 2026–April 2027 per vehicle (1–4 people) $20; additional people $5; children under age 6 free; Visa / MasterCard preferred; cash must be exact change. Re-check the park site before travel — seasonal fee windows move.

• Plan a Sedona trip

Hours, last entry, holidays

From Arizona State Parks park and facility hours (read October 17, 2026): January 31–November 20, 8 a.m.–6 p.m., with entry and swim area closing at 5 p.m.; November 21–January 30, 9 a.m.–5 p.m., with entry and swim area closing at 4 p.m. Last entry is one hour before closing; the swim area closes one hour before closing. Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve: 9 a.m.–2 p.m.; Christmas: closed. Reservations are not available. Highway conditions for the 89A approach are on az511.gov; this page gives no closure duration.

• Plan a Sedona trip

Cold water, slide, and shoulder season

The natural slide is about 80 feet long on sandstone; algae makes it very slippery. The wider swim/wade stretch is roughly ½ mile of Oak Creek. Park tips on the swimming page (check before you go): creek water can drop to near-freezing depending on season — check before kids get in; no lifeguard — swim and slide at your own risk; shoes recommended on algae-covered rock; no glass in the swim area; coolers may be checked. Travellers often ask in shoulder season (April, for example) whether the fee is worth it if nobody wants to swim. The Pendley homestead, orchard setting, and canyon views still stand when the water is too cold; this page does not rank alternate swimming holes. For family pacing see the kids guide (no age cutoffs are stated here).

• Sedona with kids under about ten

Pets

Per Arizona State Parks facility rules (check before you go): no pets in the creek / swim area year-round; no pets in the park May 1–September 30; pets must not be left in vehicles; when allowed outside peak, leash and attend. Broader Sedona pet logistics are on the dogs guide.

• Sedona with dogs

Water quality and closures

ADEQ partnership testing runs weekly Memorial Day through Labor Day (park narrative). When an exceedance occurs, Arizona State Parks posts an alert at the top of the park website. Check the water-quality page and the park home banner before you drive. As read on September 28, 2026, the swim area has reopened in coordination with a revised USFS Oak Creek closure order. Slide Rock hours come from the park's own site; treat Forest Service canyon alerts as something to check before you drive, not as Slide Rock hours.

• Cool things to do on a hot day in Sedona, Arizona
• Plan a Sedona trip

Next steps

Confirm hours, fees, pet rules, and banners on azstateparks.com/slide-rock the morning of your visit. Do not assume a Red Rock Pass covers the gate — pay the state-park fee or turn around. If the lot is full or swimming is off the table, use the hot-day guide and Plan a Sedona trip for indoor, jeep and stay-zone planning. Corrections are free and need no account.

What this page will not say

It gives no lodging or restaurants, no best-swimming-hole ranking, and no roadside parking as a walk-in path, and it does not treat a Red Rock Pass as state-park admission. Fee and hour figures come from Arizona State Parks and are dated; if the park site changes, trust the park site.

About this page

This page covers park logistics from Arizona State Parks and Forest Service pass pages, not lodging or restaurants. Every dated fee and hour below was read from azstateparks.com/slide-rock (and linked facility / swimming / water-quality pages); check them the morning you go. It makes no swimming-hole ranking and offers no roadside parking workaround. Slide Rock State Park is an Arizona State Parks site in Oak Creek Canyon north of Sedona. Plan to arrive near opening on hot and weekend days: the park does not allow lining up on the driveway or Highway 89A when the lot is full, so late arrivals get turned away rather than queued. A Forest Service Red Rock Pass (or America the Beautiful) is not Slide Rock admission — those passes cover many Coconino National Forest trailheads and day-use sites; Slide Rock charges its own state-park entrance fee. Check both on the official pages before you drive. Cold water, algae-slippery rock, and no lifeguard are the standing safety stack. Outside peak summer heat, Oak Creek can be near-freezing — worth a stop for the canyon and homestead even if you skip the slide. Check water-quality and closure banners on the park site the morning you go. The dated counts this page can honestly print are jeep, trolley and trail records this index already holds for a Sedona day — they are not Slide Rock fees, which come only from the park's own site: As of September 28, 2026 that is 24 trail records, 6 jeep tour records and 2 trolley tour records. The comparison pages below are the lists.