by – Alex McCarty, Tour Manager, North America

For more than 11,000 years the awe inspiring scenery of the Sedona region has drawn out the spiritual nature of the people who have lived in this stunning area of Arizona. Spanish Europeans arrived in 1583 in search of legendary mines of untold wealth.

The town of Sedona began as a remote ranching and farming settlement almost 300 years later when the first permanent settler, John James Thompson squatted in Oak Creek Canyon. By 1902 20 families lived in the settlement and a postal station was established by Theodore Schnelbly who named the new post office after his wife, Sedona.

Because of its beautiful, rugged scenery Sedona has attracted the movie industry for over 60 years with more than 70 major movies and countless TV, commercial and video shoot also taking place in the greater Sedona area. For a town of a little over 10,000 people, the sensational scenery around the town attracts over 4 million visitors a year.

Tours visiting Sedona have the opportunity to make the most of this beautiful scenery by taking an Red Rock Jeep Tour of Sedona as an Optional Excursion