Soldier Pass Trail Sedona: Sinkholes, Sacred Pools, and a Hidden Cave

Most people visiting Sedona don’t know there’s a 60-foot-deep hole in the ground on a public trail 15 minutes from the main strip. That’s Soldier Pass, and the sinkhole is just one of three distinct things worth seeing on a 4-mile round trip.

Devil’s Kitchen formed in 1880 when an underground cave ceiling gave way. The ground surface dropped into the void. The boulders at the bottom are the pieces that fell. It’s 100 feet wide and 60 feet deep, metal grating at the rim, and you can stand at the edge and look straight down into a geology lesson that most visitors to Sedona drive past without knowing exists.

The hike also connects to Seven Sacred Pools, seven natural stone basins carved into Coconino sandstone, and a small unsigned cave at mile 1.5 that most hikers walk right past. All of this in 4 miles with only 300 feet of elevation gain.

Trail Overview

Soldier Pass is a moderate hike with low elevation gain and high feature density. At 4 miles round trip, it’s shorter than most Sedona day hikes but packs in more distinct destinations. Moderate difficulty comes from uneven rocky terrain rather than sustained climbing.

The trail starts as a shared jeep road. For the first 0.5 miles, you’re on the same rocky track used by licensed jeep tours. It’s wide, rough underfoot from embedded rock and ruts, and you’ll step aside for vehicles occasionally. After the jeep section ends, the trail narrows to a standard foot path and the character of the hike changes completely.

Devil’s Kitchen sinkhole is 0.4 miles in on a spur off the main trail. Seven Sacred Pools appear at roughly mile 1 on the main route. Soldier Pass Cave is at about mile 1.5. Most hikers do all three features and return to the trailhead in 2.5 to 3 hours moving time.

Budget 3 to 3.5 hours total if you want to spend real time at the pools and cave.

Getting There

The Soldier Pass Trailhead is located at 525 Soldier Pass Road, Sedona, AZ 86336. This puts you in the Soldier Pass neighborhood on the northwest edge of town. It’s a residential street, not a recreation corridor, so the parking lot is small and the overflow options are limited.

The lot holds roughly 20 vehicles. It’s paved, clean, and fills quickly.

Red Rock Pass required: $5 per day, $15 per week, $20 per year. Buy at the kiosk at the trailhead, at recreation.gov online, or at the Red Rock Visitor Center on SR-179 south of town. An America the Beautiful annual pass covers the fee.

From Sedona’s main intersection of SR-89A and Jordan Road, Soldier Pass Road is a 7-minute drive northwest. The road winds through a residential area before ending at the trailhead lot.

Arrive early. The lot fills by 8am on peak season weekends. Unlike Devil’s Bridge or Cathedral Rock, there’s no real shuttle option here and no large overflow lot nearby. Once the lot is full, you’re looking at creative street parking and a longer walk. The easiest fix is getting there before 8am.

Trail Description

Miles 0 to 0.5: Jeep Road Section

The trail begins at the north end of the parking lot on a wide rocky track. This is an active jeep tour route. The surface is chunky embedded rock, deliberately rough to give jeep tires traction. It’s walkable but slower than a normal trail surface. Your feet find their own line through the rocks.

Jeeps share this section. They move at walking pace or slower due to the terrain, but they’re wide and you need to stand clear when one comes through. Most jeep tour drivers give verbal warning and wait for hikers to step aside. It’s not dangerous, just something to know before you get startled by an engine sound around a corner.

At about 0.3 miles, a signed spur branches right toward Devil’s Kitchen. Take this now, before continuing toward the pools. The spur is 0.4 miles round trip (0.2 miles each way) and brings you to the sinkhole rim.

Devil’s Kitchen Spur (0.2 miles from junction)

The spur trail is straightforward. You reach the rim of Devil’s Kitchen suddenly, the ground simply drops away in front of you.

The sinkhole is roughly circular, about 100 feet across, and 60 feet deep. The walls are vertical sandstone. The bottom holds large irregular boulders, the remnants of the cave ceiling that failed in 1880. A metal grating fence follows the rim to prevent falls. You can lean against it and look straight down.

The scale doesn’t register immediately from photographs. Standing at the rim, it’s genuinely large. The drop is real. The walls below the rim are undercut in places, which means the grating exists for a reason.

After the sinkhole, return to the main trail and continue north.

Miles 0.5 to 1.0: Seven Sacred Pools

The jeep road ends just past the Devil’s Kitchen junction. Beyond this point, the trail narrows to single-track and the jeeps turn around. The character of the hike immediately improves.

At roughly mile 1, the trail approaches the Seven Sacred Pools. These are natural basins carved into the flat Coconino sandstone platform by centuries of water flow. The pools sit in a stepped arrangement, descending from one to the next. When water is present, you can see the pour channels that connect them.

Water levels vary dramatically by season:

• January through April in a normal rain year: pools hold water and reflect the red rock walls above
• May through September: progressively shallower and drier, often dusty by late summer
• After heavy winter rain: pools fill quickly and can overflow between basins

The best time to visit for full pools is January through March. After the November-February storm season, water persists through April in most years.

Even dry, the pools are interesting as geology. The smooth curved basins, the pour channels between them, and the polished sandstone surface are worth seeing regardless of water level.

Miles 1.0 to 1.5: Toward the Cave

From the pools, the trail continues northwest into a narrower canyon section. Red rock walls come in closer. The juniper and manzanita along the trail margin are denser here.

At about mile 1.5, look north toward the cliff face on your right. Soldier Pass Cave is an unsigned opening in the rock, roughly head-height at the entrance, set a few feet back from the trail. When you’re directly in front of it, you’ll see it. The entrance is about 4 feet wide and 5 feet tall. Bring a headlamp.

The cave interior is small, maybe 20 feet deep, with a ceiling that drops as you move back. The rock ceiling shows solution pockets and minor formations. It’s nothing like a developed cave, but it’s a real cave accessible from a day hike and most people walk right past it. Take 5 minutes and go in.

Beyond the cave, the trail continues to a viewpoint with good views west and north toward Capitol Butte. Most hikers turn around here for the 1.5-mile return.

What to Bring

Water: 1.5 liters per person for cool weather. 2 liters on warm days. No water sources exist on the trail.

Footwear with real traction matters on two surfaces here. The jeep road section has chunky loose rock that turns ankle easily in flat-soled shoes. The pool area has polished sandstone that gets slick when wet. A trail runner or light hiking boot with a lug pattern handles both. Our desert hiking boot guide covers what actually grips on each surface type.

A headlamp or phone flashlight is needed if you want to check out Soldier Pass Cave. Pack one even if you think you might skip it. You’ll want to go in once you see the entrance.

Sun hoody with UPF 50: The canyon provides moderate shade but the open sections get direct sun. A lightweight hoody handles arms and neck without requiring sunscreen reapplication on the trail.

A hydration pack works well here because you’re using your hands occasionally and won’t want to stop to dig a water bottle out of a pack. Standard water bottle works fine too for a 4-mile hike.

Photo Spots

Devil’s Kitchen rim, late afternoon: The sinkhole walls face west and catch warm light from roughly 2pm onward in fall and winter. Shoot looking down into the pit from the rim with the far wall lit. The scale of the boulders at the bottom gives the shot depth. Midday overhead light washes out the wall texture, so afternoon is the clear winner here.

Seven Sacred Pools when full, water level: Don’t shoot down at the pools. Get to water level and shoot across the surface, with the pool basins in the foreground and the red canyon walls behind. A polarizing filter removes glare from the water surface and shows pool depth. Morning works well here because the canyon walls above are lit from the east.

Soldier Pass Cave entrance: Shoot from inside looking out. The dark cave interior frames the bright canyon outside, giving a natural vignette. Your phone camera handles this well in auto mode. HDR mode if available captures the contrast between the dark interior and bright exterior.

Canyon trail at mile 1.2: Look east down the trail corridor with canyon walls on both sides. Morning light from the east side of the trail. This is the less-photographed stretch of the hike and gives you something different from the standard landmark shots.

See our golden hour photography guide for timing tips that improve all of these shots.

Safety Notes

Sinkhole rim: The metal grating is there because the drop is real. Stay behind or against the fence. Don’t lean past it for photos. The sandstone at the rim edge near the fence posts can be undercut. This is not an overstatement.

Shared jeep road: Jeeps move slowly but they’re large on a narrow track. When you hear an engine, step fully off the track to the uphill side. Don’t stand downhill of the trail where a tire slip could reach you.

Heat exposure: The first half mile is open with limited shade. From June through September, start by 6:30am. The canyon sections from mile 0.5 onward have more shade, but the opening jeep road section bakes in late morning sun. Our heat management guide covers the early warning signs before they become serious.

Cave navigation: Soldier Pass Cave has a low ceiling toward the back. Duck before you hit it. The floor is dry rock. Bring a real light, not just your phone screen brightness.

Cell signal is weak throughout. Download an offline map before leaving Sedona.

For any hiking emergency, call 911. Yavapai County Search and Rescue serves this trail.

Related Trails

Devil’s Bridge is the bigger arch experience in the same Dry Creek Road area. More crowded than Soldier Pass, but legitimately impressive. The two trails aren’t close enough to combine in one morning without driving, but both are worth separate visits.

Boynton Canyon is the canyon hike that consistently outperforms its crowd level. The farther you walk from the trailhead, the better it gets and the fewer people you see. A good next step after Soldier Pass.

If Soldier Pass is your first Sedona hike, it’s a good introduction to what the place does well: multiple distinct features in a short distance, real geology rather than just pretty scenery, and crowd levels that are manageable if you time your arrival right.