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Hiking to the Subway Cave in Boynton Canyon is on the top of a lot of people’s Sedona bucket lists. However, there are multiple other Boynton Canyon Caves that are really cool to see, and *relatively* easy to find.
If you’re looking for a guide to Boynton Canyon’s Subway Cave, this isn’t it. Instead, head to our trail guide to find Sedona’s Subway Cave in 5 easy steps here.
This post is all about the other caves in Boynton Canyon.. a secret tree cave, two caves with epic cliff dwellings, and one cave known to be a lover’s paradise!
Making The Most Of This Sedona Guide
Pinnable Locations | As with all of our Sedona Travel Guides, we’ve included coordinates for each of these caves and parking coordinates. We recommend downloading the free maps.me app, and pinning each of these caves and coordinates for turning off the main trail on the map.
From there, you can write in notes for each spot, color coordinate the pins, and have your very own guide to Sedona, accessible offline, right in your hand!
Digital Safety | When traveling and using public wifi, you should be using a VPN. VPNs stop hackers from accessing personal information stored in your computer when connected to public wifi.
For under $4 a month, it’s a cheap and easy way to protect your internet privacy!
Parking Passes | Boynton Canyon trailhead is one of the busiest trailheads in Sedona. You must pay for parking if you choose to park in the actual trailhead parking lot. If you have a national park pass, you can display it and park for free.
We strongly suggest getting a national park pass before your trip to Sedona. This will save you so much money in Sedona and at over 500 other national forest service places!
Alternatively, you can grab a Red Rock Pass, which is the parking pass for Sedona. I would recommend looking at the multi-day and weekly rates, along with which trailheads require a pass before just buying a on off pass though.
As a third option, you can park along Boynton Canyon Road, to the west side of the three-way stopping junction for free. This will add a short distance to each of these hikes.
6 Caves in Boynton Canyon
Kachina Tree Cave + Dwellings in Boynton Canyon
- Location | 34.920187, -111.859385
- Parking | $5 Boynton Canyon Trailhead | 34.907356, -111.848582
- Coordinates For Leaving The Boynton Canyon Trail | 34.92065, -111.855882
- Trail Guide | Check this full day adventure guide to Boynton Canyon to get the trail finding information for the Kachina Tree Cave.
The famous secret tree cave in Boynton Canyon! Kachina Tree Cave is a very popular photographer location in Sedona. There’s a tree in the center of the cave, and when you get there with perfect lighting, the sun shines through the cave, illuminating the tree perfectly.
To get to Kachina Tree Cave, you have to take a social trail that follows a wash up the edge of Boynton Canyon.
This trail includes dipping and climbing through trees, traversing slick red rock, and minimal rock climbing for the final push to the cave.
It’s a fun adventure to be had, but should only be done by those physically fit and capable of moderate to difficult hiking conditions.
The views from this secret Boynton Canyon cave are unmatched, and sitting in the cliff dwellings right around the corner from the caves is a great place for a peaceful picnic!
While you can hike simply up to the cave and back down to Boynton Canyon in under two hours, for those looking for a longer adventure, check out this Sedona Loop through Boynton Canyon offering incredible views and a hike to another cliff dwelling site in Boynton Canyon, Women’s Village.
The Subway Cave
- Location | 34.932365, -111.862797
- Parking | $5 Boynton Canyon Trailhead | 34.907356, -111.848582
- Coordinates For Leaving The Main Trail | 34.927791, -111.861644
- Trail Guide | How To Get To The Subway Cave in 5 Easy Steps
The Subway Cave is arguably the most popular cave hike in Sedona. But honestly, with other cave hikes like Keyhole Cave, or any of the caves within this post, it’s not really our go to.
There are always a lot of people there, and if you’re afraid of heights, its actually a little sketchy to get inside.
Nonetheless, we visited the Subway Cave more than once, but after our third time there trying to catch the best lighting, we were well over the amount of people in the area.. it’s still pretty cool to see though.
Once you leave the main Boynton Canyon trail, you have about a mile hike round trip to get to the Subway Cave. The entire trail is actually on Maps.me, so if you’re worried about getting lost, definitely download that app.
The social trail from Boynton Canyon Trail is pretty easy to follow, although there are multiple little side trails in the area. Just remember to stay high and hike along the rocks instead of down in the wash.
We recommend getting inside the Subway Cave from the left, as going straight up the mouth of the cave is super slick. However, taking the left trail up, you’ll have to walk along a small ledge, and when there’s lots of people there, this ledge is super dangerous!
Be sure to check out our complete guide to Subway Cave for tips on how to get there and more details and photos of the trail to make sure it’s right for you!
Grandmother Cave in Boynton Canyon
- Location | 34.920979, -111.852263
- Parking | $5 Boynton Canyon Trailhead | 34.907356, -111.848582
- Coordinates For Leaving The Main Boynton Canyon Trail | 34.919503, -111.853821
Grandmother Cave is one of my favorite caves in Boynton Canyon. This cave is easy to access, and offers incredible views of Boynton Canyon.
And, it’s a gateway to get to a few other smaller caves and cliff dwellings for those looking for a bigger adventure.
To get to Grandmother Cave, you have to hike on the main Boynton Canyon trail for 1.2 miles to a social trail peeling off to the right at the following coordinates, 34.919503, -111.853821.
If you get to the end of the Enchantment Resort, you’ve gone too far.
Getting on this faint social trail, you’re actually just going to hike right up the wash. There are a few faint trails through the bushes here, but we found it easiest to just follow the wash at this point.
You’l soon be hiking into a little tree arch, and then right onto slick rock.
At this point, you’ll be able to see Grandmother Cave in the distance. This entire social trail from the main Boynton Canyon trail to the cave is only .3 miles… however, it’s all uphill — still not too difficult though!
Along this hike, if you ever find yourself hiking for 10 steps without seeing a trail, you’re going in the wrong direction. Since this is a social trail, it’s not as heavily traveled as other trails.. but don’t worry, you can find the trail again easily with just a bit of searching.
At 1.5 miles in from the start of your hike, you’ll be right at Grandmother Cave! This cave and cliff dwellings are a sight to see.. but so is the surrounding view!
Explore the two-room cliff dwelling, and then decide if you want to continue on the hike to Grandfather Cave up above, or return back to the main Boynton Canyon Trail.
Lover’s Cave
- Location | 34.921605, -111.852815
- Parking | $5 Boynton Canyon Trailhead | 34.907356, -111.848582
- Coordinates For Leaving The Main Boynton Canyon Trail | 34.919503, -111.853821
From Grandmother Cave, if you choose to continue hiking to Grandfather Cave, you hike right through a couple small caves, on in particular is worth noting, the Lover’s Cave.
When looking at grandmother’s cave, you’ll want to go left up deeper into the canyon to get to Lover’s Cave. Do not go back into the brush at all, but instead skirt around the rock.
You’ll walk along the ledge of the red rocks and soon come across another cliff dwelling. This one is much smaller than Grandmother Cave, but it still paints a good picture for imagining what life was like here long ago.
Right after this cliff dwelling, there’s a bit there’s a little bit of a rock climbing area with a couple really good holds, and then you bet your bottom dollar you’ll be climbing right through those holes in the rock.
Don’t worry.. climbing through these holes aren’t as scary as it seems, it’s actually fun and makes for some funny pictures.
Hang a right as you get through the holes, and continue up the piles of rock until you see a faint trail going up behind the big tree.
This trail will lead you to the small Lover’s Cave and ruins, which you can check out on your way up to Grandfather Cave.
Grandfather Cave
- Location | 34.921656, -111.851517
- Parking | $5 Boynton Canyon Trailhead | 34.907356, -111.848582
- Coordinates For Leaving The Main Boynton Canyon Trail | 34.919503, -111.853821
If you’re still up for some more trail finding and hiking, you can continue up the red rock face by the big tree, and up ya go, higher and higher into the canyon walls.
As you face the bare rock, walk directly towards it. As the base of the bare rock, you’ll see a very obvious trail to the left.. its a short trail, and you’ll soon come face to face with some red rocks again.
At this point, head right. Again, the trail is very obvious. Take care in this section as you’re hiking along a ledge here.
You’ll soon walk through another small cliff dwelling — so cool how many there are in this short area — and then out of a little cove, continuing to skirt around the red rock ledge.
The trail will soon open up to a large grassy “field”, and if you walk out on the field and turn around, you’ll see Grandfather Cave.
While you can certainly hike all the way up to Grandfather Cave, this is actually the spot I recommend stopping. The rest of the trail gets pretty hairy and technical from here, and you can’t actually get inside the cave with how slick it is.
If you do choose to continue onto reach the base of Grandfather Cave, from the grassy field, you’re going to scramble up the red rock next to the ledge by the cactus.
On the ledge, you can go left towards darker, black stained rock, which signifies there was a waterfall here, and you’ll find some ancient ruins.
However, to get to Grandfather Cave, instead of going left towards the waterfall, you’re going to go right.. actually hiking away from the cave.
The trail gets hairy here, and you are simply looking for a place you feel comfortable climbing up to the next red rock ledge. We went up by the big cluster of trees, but it was definitely sketchy!
Once you’re on the next ledge, you again find a place you feel comfortable climbing up another ledge. This will be your final ledge to climb up onto.
Traverse back towards Grandfather Cave, hike through some bushes, and then you’ll pop out right at the base of Grandfather Cave.
Again, even wearing our super grippy trail shoes, we were not able to get inside this cave. The rocks are really loose. And because you can’t get inside the cave, and the final climb to this point is technical and sketchy, we definitely don’t actually recommend going past the grassy field area.
Wherever you choose to turn around, the views will be great, and you’ll hike back down to the main Boynton Canyon trail past Lovers Cave and Grandmother Cave to get down.
Warrior’s Cave
- Location | 34.927803, -111.853431
- Parking | $5 Boynton Canyon Trailhead | 34.907356, -111.848582
- Coordinates For Leaving The Main Trail | 34.925419, -111.858184
In all our times going into Boynton Canyon, we never actually made it to Warrior’s Cave. It was just a little too far for us after being tired from hiking and exploring all the other things to see in the canyon.
However, I wanted to include this Boynton Canyon Cave in this list because even though we didn’t do it.. it’s still there for you to explore!
Hiking To These Boynton Canyon Caves
With the exception of Warrior’s Cave, we hiked to each of these caves, and all the guides are from our experience. If you have more questions about hiking to these caves, feel free to shoot us a message @arboursabroad on Instagram.
All of these caves are located on social trails, so you must be capable of trail finding, and be okay with a few scratches from the bushes here and there.
We strongly recommend downloading the maps.me app, and then pinning each location so you can have a rough sense of direction while trail finding!
On the way to these caves, you’ll pass the Boynton Vista Trail. This trail is a short out and back leading to the Boynton Canyon Vortex. You can add this to your hiking day on either end of the hike, but we recommend catching an epic Sedona sunset from the vortex!
What To Pack For These Hikes
For our complete list of what to pack for Sedona, including the best hiking shoes for Sedona, read our Sedona packing guide here.
Backpack With Water Bladder | I can’t tell you the amount of people we’ve seen hiking in Sedona without water or food. Don’t be those people. These hikes are all well over 3 miles, and in the off chance you get lost on the trails, you want to have extra food, water, and layers in a backpack if it gets cold!
This backpack comes with a water bladder so you can drink water as you hike, allowing you to hike with your hands free to assist in the climbing associated with hiking to caves!
Sun Protection | Most of these hikes have little to no shade. Protect yourself from the strong Arizona sun with a sun hoodie like this and sunscreen.
Headlamp | While a headlamp seems like a weird thing to pack, it can get dark in the canyon quickly, and it’s good to have on you. And before you say your phone has a flashlight, a headlamp actually allows you to still hike with your hands while lighting up the trail. Trust us, it’s super nice!
Boynton Canyon Caves FAQs
Can my dog hike to the caves with me?
Since most of these caves are actually archeological sites, you dog can not visit the caves. Dogs are not permitted at any of the archeological sites in Sedona.
Which is the best Boynton Canyon Cave?
While the Subway Cave is the most popular, Grandmother Cave is the coolest in my opinion. And the hike just past Lover’s Cave is beautiful!
More Sedona Travel Guides
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Trail Guide to Loy Canyon Cliff Dwellings and Wall Art
