Illiam Canyon - Rappelling into West Fork - Sedona, Arizona

I've been wanting to do this canyon for a while now. You get to see a secret arch, get some big drops and end up in West Fork, my favorite trail in Sedona.

Unfortunately, you start at my least favorite trail in Sedona - The AB Young trail. AB Young is a brutal hike with about 2,000 ft of vertical gain with 31 switchbacks. The icing on the cake is that you can actually drive to where AB young ends, but of course that was too easy for my canyoneering partners, so we hiked it instead. Did I mention that my canyoneering partners are super human and don't really blink at 2,000 ft of elevation gain? They practically run up this sort of trail. I'm not really sure why I hang out with these guys.

Anyway, once we were done with AB Young, we had to head cross country to the start of Illiam itself. There was a lot of fire damage, but it's still pretty. Especially when you crest the final climb. Here you enter a thick forest that avoided the fire. Did I mention it was still prime fall colors up there for some reason? Not sure why, but the leaves were still there, and still colorful. (Everything else around there was about 3 weeks past prime time.)

It was here where Nick started yelling "BEAR!" I'm going to rant for a second. Our conversation went like this:
Nick - "BEAR!"
Me - "Where?"
Nick - "Bear."
Me - "Where?"
Repeat for about 2 minutes until Nick finally offers the helpful "By the tree". We were in a forest, so that was not specific enough. No pointing, no "Over there", just "By the tree." Yeah. So I have a crappy photo of what I think was a bear. I did see it, but just as it walked behind some trees (ah, that's what he meant) and out of sight.

I swear, not 1 minute later and Nick says "Mountain lions!" This time, I actually saw and recorded two mountain lions across the valley from us, running away. Pretty awesome, since I've never seen one before, and this way I got to see two.

Once the wildlife excitment was over, it was time to get into the technical section. I'll let the video do the talking here, except to mention there is an absolutely humongous arch along the route. You even rappel from directly under it. Definitely the highlight of the route. I got really bad footage of it, so you're welcome for that.

Eventually we finished our last rappel and walked out West Fork, which makes this the most epic canyon exit I've ever done. (Except for Waterhole Canyon. You take a frickin' boat down the Colorado River to exit Waterhole Canyon!)

Anyway, I'm tired so I'm gonna stop typing now. Illiam Canyon is awesome. And Nick is in time out until he learns how to use his words.

Music by Epidemic Sound:

Eine Cleine Nachtmusic (that's what it says - Don't ask me.)
Skip Stones - Franz Gordon

Music by Artlist:

Casa Monte Negra - The Whiskey Wasps
Far - The Hunts