This was the one I had come for. This semi-secret canyon seems to rate very high on people's lists and I have heard several call it the best slot canyon in Arizona. Given these praises and its remarkably easy access considering, it is particularly surprising that the canyon was only first descended in 2007. The first descenders apparently completed the canyon entirely on natural anchors, a reasonably impressive feat. Now many more have visited the canyon and there are several bolts throughout. Despite this the canyon does seem to be in remarkably good shape, with intact vegetation and very few scuff marks. I had been talking this canyon up to the other two over the last couple days and was looking forward to seeing for myself what the canyon had to offer.
After sorting out legal parking places for our cars (a feat in itself for the Sedona area!), we crossed the river and began looking for the trail that would take us steeply up the hill. Unfortunately the trails seemed poorly marked and we headed off in the wrong direction for 10-15 minutes before the process of elimination led us to the right trail. Once on it we made superb time climbing the sweaty switchbacked trail up through the Coconino. It was just after 7am but already quite warm- if we waited a couple more hours to start the climb we would have been dying. We gained the basalt cap on the valley in about an hour's time, and continued along the trail through the forest. We were greeted by a kindly fire lookout tower attendant and relished in the excuse of dropping our packs to climb the numerous stairs to say hello to him and his little dog. After a good chat (and a reassuring view of a cloudless sky over Flagstaff), we headed on, this time across country. We followed our nose (with helpful suggestions by the GPS), to one of the drainages feeding the canyon. After descending a steep hill, we bushwhacked our way through wet foliage. This was arguably the least pleasant part of the trip. We did find our way though and reached the start of the canyon in about 2.5 hrs.
It started with some small downclimbs and short slots alternating with corridors of greenery. Then we turned a corner and things started to get dark and illusion-y. We climbed through one nice arch and swam through yet another. The water was brewed dark and matched the mood of the slot perfectly. We downclimbed several beautiful fluted dryfalls (with the occasional jumping option) and swam several nice flooded corridors. We found yet another arch, this one we could rappel right through! The quality of features in this canyon was excellent, right up there near the top.
The canyon then opened up into another secret garden before narrowing again into another slot. This time the slot dropped more dramatically with several medium sized rappels and a few tall downclimbs. Again we found several nice potholes and dark corners in this sustained middle slot. It briefly opened up enough to let some light in before narrowing down again for a beautiful 100ft rappel right out of the slot into a grotto. We had thought this was the end of the canyon (and Sam seemed quite satisfied by this grand finale), but were confused when the short slot after posed no obvious keeper pothole as we had been told. Instead the canyon opened up into yet another garden.
Sure enough in a couple hundred feet the canyon narrowed again for one last round. Here too were a couple more rappels down a spectacularly fluted section of canyon. Turning one last corner the world dropped away and light flooded in. Here was the 120ft abseil as promised. Just as we started to rig the drop, thunder resounded with terrifying amplitude. It was quite motivating. I went down first and quickly saw that the keeper would be an easy exit. What I did not see though was the incredible stench of the pool. Just a few weeks earlier it had three dead bears brewing in it. I swam across and climbed out with all the hast in the world. What a rude way to end an otherwise fantastic canyon! Sam did the same. Once Jeff dropped the pull cord I rigged it as a guided rappel to spare at least one of us the nastiness of having to cross the pool. We walked on a further hundred feet to make sure we were clear of the stench before de-suiting and snacking.
There was still a fair bit of boulder hopping and creek bashing to go before we reached the West Fork of Oak Creek, but the travel was considerably easier than above the canyon so we were thankful for that. We abruptly ran into a 40ft nuisance rappel. No obvious or convenient way around, we put our harnesses back on and rapped. At least it gave us an excuse to keep our harnesses on after the rap (and thus looking cool for the tourists). Eventually we reached W. Oak Creek and had a pleasant stroll down a beautiful bedrock-lined creek. Shortly after we reached the end of the tourist track it started pouring raining. Unfortunately this meant we still had over 3 miles to go to the car park and my feet were majorly suffering from wearing wet neoprene and canyoneers all day long. Although beautiful, I was in pain and just wanted it to end at the point. After a long but uneventful walk on the good trail we reached the carpark. Sam made my day by volunteering to walk back to the car so we could complete the car shuttle. Hats off to him.
We completed the trip in about 8.5hrs, apparently an unheard of good time for this route. It was a fantastic canyon, easily one of my two favorites for Arizona. Again it is surprising that it was only discovered in 2007 considering its relatively good access. It really made me wonder what other low hanging fruit might still be hidden out there. Thanks to Jeff and Sam for a great weekend away.
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