When you read about old Sedona, you don't think TOO much about how they got there! The most obvious routes are down from Flagstaff, using Schnebly Hill Road into Sedona, and over from Jerome, crossing the Verde River. But going back even further, the earliest settlers came in on the old 'Palatwapi Trail'. This native-american trail was used from Winslow, cut through Sunset Pass (wake up you Zane Grey novel readers!), then going south of Stoneman Lake, cut down Beaverhead, just west of I-17. At this point, you got out of your wagon, since it was quite steep. It crosses SH179 about a mile east of the Dry Beaverhead Creek crossing; (east of VOC). There used to be a historical marker south of the highway. At this point, you either went to Camp Verde, continued southeast over to Jerome, or made a 'right' to Sedona! You can still find traces of the dugway off the Beaverhead rim, north of SH179 and east of the creek crossing.

Map from NAU and Jim Byrkit.