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| Canyoneering | 7.50 Miles |
2,200 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 7.50 Miles | 9 Hrs 40 Mns | | 0.78 mph |
| 2,200 ft AEG | | | | |
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| | Intermediate Canyoneering - Difficult or dangerous; Tech Climb; rope reqd; descent anchor; exit technical; | | B - Up to light current; wading/swimming; possible wet/dry suit | | III - Normally requires most of a day |
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| partners | | We drove down that Woody Mt road Friday evening and setup camp up on the rim near upper Secret Canyon for an adventurous weekend of canyoneering down Voodoo & Sunburst canyon.  We didn't camp right on the edge of the rim, so had an extra mile of road/forrest walking in & out of both canyons though the sweet place we camped made up for the extra miles. We dropped down a use trail along that ridge into upper Sunburst Canyon, then climbed up that South Pocket to drop into one of the upper forks of Voodoo Canyon. We got a little separated up on that ridge and three of us spent an hour waiting & searching for him while he marched full steam for the first rappel where we thankfully we met up with him. Any chance I could get an emergency contact number from ya?  So far we'd hit a lot of bushwhacking & rock hopping but now we were dropping into some narrows, putting on our wetsuits and rappelling gear, and the real fun was about to begin.  The first rappel was a slick double drop of about 10ft each, followed by another double drop of 10ft & 50ft alongside a log, ring into rappel #3 which was another double drop of 10ft into a chilly semi-keeper and 15ft down to were the canyon open up a bit. Sweet!  Some rock hopping and we soon hit a 30ft sloping rappel, followed quickly by another 70ft drop into a chilly swimmer into some more sweet narrows, with another 20ft rappel from a log into another swimmer. Super sweet! The canyon opens up again with some more rock hopping and tree fall bypassing and we hit that tricky rappel #7 of 15ft that's complicated by a log wedge in the drop...  The next 45ft rappel was soon afterwards and it also had a tricky start, then we walked along a cool big wall section, followed by another 20ft rappel and some log down climbing before hitting the confluence with Sunburst Canyon. Just when we thought the technical section was over, we hit another 10-12ft tricky down climb or easy rappel followed by a slick 8ft drop we used a handline on while going thru a cool subway section in the Supai Sandstone before finally reaching Secret Canyon were we can finally drop our gear and start the long hike back out.  The 3/4 mile rock hop upstream Secret also involved some sweet slickrock sections, big walls, a few log jams to bypass, and a murky pool to traverse past before reaching our exit canyon. We made our way up this side canyon and when we hit a confluence we took what we though was a right but in hindsight ended up being the center drainage, so further upstream when we took a right that put us going up the side a a mountain to a ridge overlooking our exit canyon. Hmm, I think we can go down this steep chute here... After skiing down that sandy/rocky chute we were thankfully now in the proper exit canyon.  After that ordeal, the climb up to the saddle didn't seem too bad and from there we dropped back down to upper Sunburst Canyon and made the final climb back up that ridge we dropped in on that morning. Wow, that was quite the adventure but I don't think I'll be running back to hit that canyon any time soon especially with an exit like that! Time logged excludes the hour while being on a volunteer SAR crew... |
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| Yea, canyoneering is an extreme sport... EXTREMELY dramatic!!! =p |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
They canyon was drier than before but still a fair amount of water. I was wearing a shorty wetsuit but could have gone without though I did really enjoy it while crossing that cold stinky swimmer midway thru the canyon. 
The exit hike is long & rocky & bushy & loose & seemingly never-ending elevation gain, but I've slowly gotten used to it by now and just endure thru it. 
One was a Coconino SAR guy and was cool to later see his photos from the Insomnia SAR rescue. Small world! 
