Gallery 2 - A Pilot's View > Famous Places > Sedona
Sedona, the land of the red rocks is a very special place to visit on land as well as see from the air. The rock formations are very dramatic especially at sunset. This massive rock is called Courthouse Butte.
The picturesque city is surrounded by the red-rock monoliths. The airport is on a mesa just under the aircraft wing.
Courthouse Butte and Bell Rock are the most famous rocks in Sedona shown in the lower portion of the image.
The airport is fun to land and take off on. The terrain drops off suddenly all around. We always enjoy the restaurant at the airport too.
The color comes from iron deposits that rust as the rock weathers and exposes them to air and water. But the dramatic landscape was formed by the weak flowing water from the north through a fault line. Over the millennia, thousands of small earthquakes fractured the ground above the fault, and water seeped in and carried away layer after layer of rock to form the canyon. The strongest rock formations remained as the massive monuments we see today.