Slide Rock State Park prohibits parking and waiting on highway

Visitors hoping to enter Slide Rock State Park will no longer be allowed to line up and wait on the highway.

Slide Rock is one of the most popular parks in Arizona, but limited parking capacity frequently leads to long lines of vehicles waiting on State Route 89A.

Slide Rock is located in Oak Creek Canyon outside of Sedona. The park’s namesake slide often attracts larger crowds than the park has capacity for.

Now, officials say once the parking lot is full, no more people will be let in.

Michelle Thompson is the deputy assistant director for Arizona State Parks and Trails.

“They line up in the driveway and sometimes even down the highway, and that can be really dangerous for other people driving on the highway, and it also prohibits the workers from getting to the park and getting in there and opening it up,” Thompson said.

Thompson says rangers will be directing traffic to prevent people from stopping and waiting on the highway.

“We just won't have the physical space for people to line up, so it'll be blocked off,” Thompson said. “And then once we have enough spaces to allow more people in, we'll remove those cones and that signage and start letting visitors come back into the park.”

Thompson says there is enough capacity for 165 vehicles, and the park will reopen to visitors when spots open up.