Route Editor
Route Scout
| Wilbur Canyon, AZ |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
DESTINATION Wilbur Canyon 14 Photosets 2025-07-02 2019-07-25 2016-05-27 2015-09-12 2015-08-22 2015-06-28 2015-06-06 2014-08-17 2013-07-23 2011-08-28 2011-05-22 2010-06-27 2009-10-25 2009-09-08 |
| HAZ Member Vaporman's 229 Photosets 2010-07-05 2010-07-03 2010-06-27 2010-06-13 2010-06-12 2010-06-06 2010-05-30 2010-05-17 2010-05-15 2010-05-09 2010-05-02 2010-05-02 2010-05-01 2010-04-24 2010-04-17 2010-04-11 2010-04-03 2010-03-28 2010-03-28 2010-03-27
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
This is still my fav WCC canyon, though this time around the canyon seemed considerably easier compared to my last few canyoneering trips... 
Thankfully the no-see-ums have pretty much died off for the season. 
Using the GPS unit, we trekked towards Bueno tank and then east to drop into middle Wilbur Canyon. The middle section is nice enough with loads of rock hopping, fallen trees to bypass, stagnant pools to avoid, and some light down climbing. When we hit the first optional rappel, I just thru the rope around a log and we rapped it. Some log jams sections and small pools to go thru and we used that deadman anchor that still looks solid enough and did that 15ft rappel that drops into a waist high pool. A little ways down canyon though, we hit the sweet narrows section and the real fun begins! 
It starts off with that 80ft drops with a keeper to avoid midway down. I stopped there and let Kelli rap down and helped her avoid it before hopping back on rope and finishing it. Right around the corner is that 2-stage 55ft drop with some treefall on that first ledge that has the potential for getting a rope tangled on. Just below that is that 15ft drop into a pool that can be avoided if you can balance on that log and with a little team work and skill we both avoided dunking in that cold pool. 
From that log we stepped to a keyhole ledge with another 60ft drop with a nice bolt to rappel from down to another pool that can be mostly avoided. This put us down into a sweet grotto section with some sunshine to warm up and grab a quick snack before hitting those 2 tricky down climbs/optional short rappels. We played it safe and setup short raps though both had cold pools below with the first being a waist high wader and the second was a chilly swimmer. We had avoided using the wetsuits so far and we were almost to WCC, so we decided to drop some clothing instead of using the suits. 
The final rappel was an easy 60ft drop down to WCC and compared to the pools of Wilbur the creek water was kinna warm and very refreshing. Once at the creek, we were doing good on time and decided to enjoy the amazingly beautiful WCC by swimming, sun bathing, wandering around soaking it all it, and ended up burning a couple hours before hiking out. 
But we both kinna enjoyed the challenge & adventure of trekking down the rugged middle WCC and eventually reached the Calloway Trail to make the quick & steep climb back to the rim. 