Route Editor
Route Scout
| Crucifix Canyon, AZ |
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DESTINATION Crucifix Canyon 17 Photosets 2025-01-11 2025-01-08 2024-02-17 2023-12-19 2023-05-09 2022-12-18 2022-03-04 2020-12-06 2020-04-04 2019-02-10 2019-01-19 2019-01-19 2018-12-31 2018-07-28 2012-01-29 2012-01-25 2010-12-18 |
| HAZ Member Vaporman's 229 Photosets 2010-12-31 2010-12-30 2010-12-30 2010-12-26 2010-12-26 2010-12-24 2010-12-19 2010-12-18 2010-12-18 2010-12-12 2010-12-09 2010-12-04 2010-11-26 2010-11-20 2010-11-14 2010-11-12 2010-11-07 2010-11-06 2010-10-21 2010-10-02
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I packed my 100ft & 40ft ropes just in case and from that SRP gate I headed down that north fork near that crucifix and the start of the climb up Black Cross Butte looming above. This fork is a bit of a thrash and it soon meets up with the main fork with a 2-stage dry fall of about 50ft. Hmm, I can probably bypass this but this looks like a fun rappel and I wouldn't mind dumping the 100ft rope already and doubt I'll need it later based on the beta. So I geared up & set an achor and dropped down this short & sweet drop and got some style points by avoiding the pool on the midway ledge. Some large boulder below to navigate and then you're in the wide & brush-free main fork of Crucifix canyon so I made made fairly good time rock hopping downstream. Looking back up canyon, there's an easy bypass for that rappel so I'll take that on the way back but I'm still glad I did that optional rappel. I saw loads of sweet formations & canyon walls with a handful of side canyons with technical dry falls dropping into this canyon. This place would be heaven on earth during a rainstorm with waterfalls popping in from everywhere! 
Some sections required some light down climbing and/or bushwhacking to bypass another dryfall but nothing too crazy. At one point, I saw some metal homemade ladders in the canyon and looked up to ponder why they're here and saw this MASSIVE bat cave up above up the slope with a metal & wooden ladder going up into an alcove up above the arch in the cliffside. Holy Pumpkin!!! 
Maybe I'll check that out on the way back... Kept pushing on and just before reaching the lake, I hit the 8ft class 3 down climb that turned the other group back but I was able to down climb it easy enough without gear. A little further on & some shallow wading and I was at the lake's edge eating lunch on a boulder while watching a fisherman trying his luck in this inlet away from the main lake. So beautiful & peaceful though I need to stop seeing/thinking of lakes as barriers and see them as the fluid highways that they really are... Turned around and scrambled back up canyon and up that slope to go check out that Bat Cave. This has to be one of the funkiest manmade things I've ever seen in the remote backcountry. The place reeked of bat poop & the stuff was literally everywhere sicne they lived in the alcove way above and it all dropped down here... 
I climbed 15ft or so up the metal ladder, but the crap stained rickety wooden ladder went up at least another 80ft into the dark abyss and looked way too crazy to be sanely ascended. Found an interesting note from a National Forrest non-game specilist who wanted to talk to whomever built the ladder or anyone who's crazy enough to climb up and seen what's up there. 
Headed back down to the canyon and slowly made my way back up canyon making sure to take the northern forks whenever I hit a confluence, but at the last confluence I climbed the ridge to check out some hidden alcoves and retrieve my rope & anchor before dropping back down and exploring up the more interesting southern upper fork. This way other fork had more foot prints, some waterfalls & pools & slick rock sections and was much more scenic than the thrash down the other northern fork. 
What a sweet canyon this turned out being and has me curious about the few remaining canyons to the south of here I've yet to check out. 
