Schnebly Hill Road
— the road the red rocks open along.
Not only on a wall.
“Twelve miles of mostly dirt road out of Sedona, climbing through the red rock country east of town to the lip of the Mogollon Rim. The first mile is paved; past that, high-clearance is needed. Most cars turn around at the vista. The few that don't get the rim and the long view east.
Schnebly Hill Road, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Schnebly Hill Road runs roughly twelve miles between Sedona and Interstate 17, climbing from about 4,300 feet at the town to 6,400 feet at the Mogollon Rim. The road was built in 1902 by Theodore Carl Schnebly, husband of Sedona Schnebly for whom the town was named, as a cattle route to the railhead at Flagstaff. Coconino National Forest manages the right of way today. The upper section is closed by snow most winters, generally December through March. The lower paved mile is open year-round.
The road cuts through the Schnebly Hill Formation, a Permian-age red sandstone laid down roughly 280 million years ago in a coastal dune field. The deep iron-oxide colour comes from hematite cementing the grains. The same formation makes the buttes and walls visible from the road: Munds Mountain, Merry-Go-Round Rock, the Cow Pies, and the Mitten Ridge above Bear Wallow. The formation was named for this very road in the geological literature of the early twentieth century, so the place lent its name to the rock it exposes.
The first mile is paved, after which the road becomes graded dirt with embedded slickrock ledges and is suitable only for high-clearance vehicles. Many rental SUVs are prohibited by their contracts, so most visitors arrive on Pink Jeep and similar tours, which run the route during the open season. The Coconino National Forest closes the upper road from roughly December into March for snow. No fee applies to the road itself, though a Red Rock Pass is required to park at trailheads. Allow two to three hours one-way if stopping at vistas.