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| Canyoneering | 5.00 Miles |
3,000 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 5.00 Miles | 7 Hrs | | 0.71 mph |
| 3,000 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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| no partners | | Shake Tree Canyon is a moderately technical descent through a spectacular canyon of red and purple quartzite. Situated on the eastern edge of the Mazatzal wilderness, this canyon features seven-plus rappels, an optional jump (when there's water), and a whole lot of scenery.
From Phoenix, take the 87 toward Payson. Just shy of Rye, turn left (West) on to the well marked Barnhardt Trailhead road. Proceed 5 miles on a rocky dirt road to the trailhead. From the trailhead, take the south-branching Y Bar trail. There is a sign clearly marking this trail.
Proceed for approximately three miles on the Y Bar trail. You will pass through three ravines before the trail turns west, following the north side of Shake Tree Canyon. Continue west approximately one-quarter mile before leaving the trail (heading south) toward the sharp precipices jutting between the trail and the far side of the canyon. The rocky mid-ground you're hiking toward is entrance to Shake Tree Canyon. (Edit: Occam79 measured the distance at 2.25 miles, noting you should start hiking for the canyon "where the large and very obvious quartzite scree pile crosses the trail." If you go too far, you'll end up bushwacking down a non-technical section of the canyon for a while. Thanks, Joe!)
You will encounter the first rappel within five minutes of entering the canyon (proper). This is a short 30 foot rappel, with an optional slide or additional 10 feet of rappelling at the bottom. Keep the rope on the left side to avoid getting a rope stuck.
Climb down the next obstacle to arrive at the crux of the canyon: a stunning 160 foot rappel into a deep, rounded, red canyon chamber. This rappel is from a dead-man anchor; check it carefully before rappelling. The rappel is more moderate to the rappeler's right. Following the water to the left for a shorter, free hanging rappel. You can make it to the ground to rappeler's left in ~150 feet. It's a full 160' to the water following on the rappeler's right.
(A word to the wise: while it's possible to complete this rap with two 60 meter dynamic climbing ropes, pulling 200' of wet 10.2mm rope is unpleasant, at best. You'll be much happier with proper static canyoneering rope.)
The 160' rap is followed immediately by a small downclimb and another short 15' rappel.
A short rappel or jump follows. Two small downclimbs bring you to a slick 50' (two section) rappel. You can anchor from a large tree (with increased risk of getting your rope caught), or a worryingly small chockstone. Check this thoroughly during times of high water flow and/or recent rains to ensure its security.
Next, you will encounter three easy downclimbs, followed by two bigger downclimbs. The larger downclimbs can be done on canyon-right. Alternatively, run a rope over the tree on canyon-right to rappel the 10' down the first larger downclimb.
The canyon finishes with a 30' rappel off a large chockstone down a chute, followed by a 25' rappel (above what may be the eponymous Shake Tree) into clear water fed by a stream from the south.
Continue downstream for another 50 years or so, and exit canyon-left up a water-worn gully. As the gully widens, head north to the top of the ridge, then west on top of the ridge to rejoin the Y Bar trail.
Suggested equipment: 1x 350' rope, 1x 110' rope, 40 feet of webbing, rap rings.
Based on Vaporman's post, there's more water in the spring (edit: confirmed by Occam79. This is NOT a spring route). During the summer months the water is limited (there's usually one short, mandatory swim) and you can comfortably leave your wetsuit behind. That said, there was still a slow trickle in most pools which afforded clean, beautiful and very clear pools (with one, obvious exception). |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
The sweet narrows starts off with two shorts drops of 20ft or so and some light down climbing before arriving at the big boy. Either a tricky down climb or short 10ft rappel gets you to a deadman anchor for the freaking awesome 160ft angled rappel down a curved chute which drops you into a beautiful section of the canyon. 
Just below the big falls, a slick down climb put you at a short 10ft waterfall rappel and just around the corner is another optional rappel or slick down climb and/or jump in a pool. Just around the corner from that is a slick 50ft double drop waterfall rappel with some more down climbing past that. We found a nice sunny place to warm up and take a lunch break down in there while soaking in the amazing canyon views & sunshine. 
After that we hit a 50ft rappel #7 around a huge chockstone down a chute into a pool with a short drop below that with rappel #8 just beyond that, which was a 25ft slick falls. The technical section ended soon afterwards and it got thickly vegetated real fast, but we dropped our gear and hiked up a side drainage on the left back up to the ridge and trail above. 
