Edge of the World & Howard Pocket — Two Nights on the Rim Above Sedona

Rachel Joel
Jun 8
5 min read

Updated: 7 days ago

By Rachel Joel · AZ Places

Rachel is the founder of AZ Places — Camping Made Easy — based in Arizona. A lifelong outdoor enthusiast, Rachel has personally explored and documented hundreds of camping locations, ancient ruins, ghost towns, hot springs, and wild places across Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and the greater Southwest. She guides hosted camping adventures in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, operates a firsthand bucket list of visited locations and maintains this complete site. When she's not on the trail she is a jewelry designer and a mother of two.

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There is a place on the Coconino National Forest rim above Sedona where the land simply drops away. One moment you are in ponderosa pine forest. The next, 2,000 feet below you, is an entirely different Arizona — red rock towers, canyon walls, the Sedona basin spreading to the horizon, and the Red Rock-Secret Mountain Wilderness filling every direction you can see. People call it the Edge of the World. The name is accurate.

⚠️ Current Status: Both Edge of the World (FR 231 / Woody Mountain Road) and Howard Pocket are currently closed due to the Pocket Fire, which started June 19, 2026 and has grown to over 27,000+ acres as of August 2026. Do not attempt to access these areas at this time. Check current closure status at fs.usda.gov/r03/coconino/alerts before planning any visit.

We spent three nights on that rim in June 2026 — the first two at Edge of the World on FR 231, the third at Howard Pocket on the ridge above West Fork Oak Creek Canyon.

Night One — Edge of the World, FR 231

We arrived on a Friday evening, which meant the area was busy. Edge of the World is well known in dispersed camping circles — 25 miles of unpaved road from Flagstaff on FR 231 (Woody Mountain Road) filters out the casual visitor, but not on a summer weekend. The sites along the rim fill.

Not having been to the area before, we scouted before committing. The first stop was the main viewpoint near 34°58'52.0"N 111°49'37.2"W — the sweeping panoramic view of Sedona below that explains why people make the drive. The Red Rock-Secret Mountain Wilderness spread out in every direction below us. Sedona's towers visible, Cottonwood in the Verde Valley, and Mingus Mountain across the way.

We continued further down FR 231 and found a site tucked between two hills at 34°58'47.1"N 111°47'29.2"W — more sheltered than the exposed rim sites, with trees requiring a short walk to access the views. Not the postcard location but the right choice for two nights with privacy. The rim sites with the best views had neighbors nearby.

If we had continued further down FR 231 there were additional sites with great views — ones we noted during our hike after already having set up camp. Worth exploring the full road before committing to a site. The further you go the more options open up.

From our campsite we hiked an old road now closed to vehicles and camping. From this route we found another viewpoint that opened up a view of Bell Rock in Sedona from above — a perspective on a landmark most visitors only see from AZ-179 far below.

After the main camp nights we drove FR 778 to its end and with a short hike reached the viewpoint at 34°59'40.1"N 111°46'39.9"W — a secondary overlook positioned to look down over the Red Rock-Secret Mountain Wilderness from a different angle. Worth adding to any Edge of the World visit. Do note: high clearance vehicle recommended.

What We Witnessed

On our arrival we noticed a group at a nearby site with an open campfire burning. Campfires are prohibited at Edge of the World dispersed camping. Fire restrictions are clearly posted. The logic in a drought-stressed ponderosa pine forest at nearly 8,000 feet in late spring is not difficult to understand.

Two weeks after we left, on June 19, 2026, the Pocket Fire started approximately 7 miles north of Sedona in the Oak Creek Canyon area. FR 231 — the same road we camped on — was closed. Evacuations were ordered for Oak Creek Canyon. The fire grew to over 27,000+ acres.

Night Two — Howard Pocket

From Edge of the World we moved north-east to Howard Pocket — one of eight designated dispersed camping areas established by the Coconino National Forest west of Sedona following the 2022 buffer zone restrictions that banned general dispersed camping in the area. The designated areas are the compromise — specific small plots where free camping is still permitted within the otherwise restricted zone.

Howard Pocket sits on a ridge above West Fork Oak Creek Canyon with the Red Rock-Secret Mountain Wilderness spread below. We scouted the location on OnX before arriving and arrived with specific site coordinates. Our site at 35°01'35.6"N 111°48'26.5"W was the best of the designated options — the others either more exposed or requiring a short walk through trees to reach an open view.

Upon arrival we thought we were alone in the area. Exploring the ridge revealed a camper at a neighboring site we had scouted. They passed our camp the next day. Two trucks came up to our site later — clearly hoping it was available — assessed the situation and moved on. Preparation and arriving with specific coordinates pays off at small designated camping areas.

Howard Pocket looking towards West Fork Oak Creek Canyon

The View

Rock formations and cliffs were the main event. The Red Rock-Secret Mountain Wilderness directly below — the canyon walls, the layered sandstone, the depth of the drainage where West Fork Oak Creek runs far below but is hidden by the canyon walls and vegetation. You know the river is down there. You cannot see it. What you see instead is everything around it.

The panorama east from Howard Pocket's ridge is as interesting as the wilderness view. Two canyon systems to the east — Oak Creek Canyon along AZ-89A, and the corridor carrying I-17. Lights from Munds Park visible at night in the eastern canyons. Across the distance the fire towers on the Mogollon Rim catching the setting sun.

The light across the Red Rock-Secret Mountain Wilderness moves through the day in a way that makes sitting and watching the only reasonable response. Morning light on the east faces. Midday the full red of the sandstone. Late afternoon the west-facing walls turning warm and deep.

Bear Country

I hiked along the ridge heading west — but with signs of bear in the area and hiking alone, opted not to go far. The bear sign was real and close. We found Pansy Tank — a stock tank on the ridge — full of water and surrounded by animal tracks pressed into the mud: large bird prints, deer tracks, and bear clearly impressed around the edges. Bear prints in the sandy road right near our campsite confirmed that we are in bear country.