Wilson Mountain sits high and mighty above the Sedona-Red Rocks-Oak Creek Canyon region of north-central Arizona. This is a hiker's paradise, and the magnificent site of the red rocks, spires and odd formations will surely awe you, despite the possibility of having 'seen' the area through photographs before. Like the Grand Canyon, no photographs truly capture the splendor of the region - it must be seen first-hand to be fully appreciated. Also like the Grand Canyon, it's often overrun with visitors, tourists, campers, hikers and everybody else during the summer ... in other words, it can be pretty crowded. It is one of the great ironies of living in Arizona that these areas are often ignored by us locals, loathe to deal with the crowds that are always a given. In my 14 years in the state I have only hiked in the Sedona area once or twice. Beth was interested in hiking in the canyons and we had originally planned to visit about a month ago when we discovered that there were no campsites available, that hotels charge a fortune and that scatter-camping is not allowed. We had to cancel that trip, but made reservations for a campspot for this weekend, and here we were, glad to escape the summer heat in Phoenix. We arrived on Friday evening as the sun was setting, setting up our camp at the Manzanita Campground along US-89-Alt in Oak Creek Canyon, about five miles north of Sedona. Charlie, the camp host, came by to check us in, and as it turned out, check out Beth a bit, too! He seemed very eager to help us set up and just be around us. Nice guy, though. Beth was amused. Later, we sat around camp, a few feet from gurgling Oak Creek itself, amid a full moon glow, listening to the Diamondbacks tank another game on our small radio. We both hit the sleeping bags around 10 p.m.

Beth had taken the lead on which trails to hike - she had narrowed the list to three or four equally attractive options, any of which was fine by me. I had done very little pre-planning other than to procure maps and some informal reading of the trails on the web. We both gravitated toward a hike up Wilson Mountain, seeing that we were just a mile north of the trailhead. Wilson Mountain is known for its amazing viewpoints from high along its southern and northern rims, and it also offered some attractive 'half-way' spots to attain in case Beth's knees and ankles caused us to abort the full hike earlier than planned. The mountain itself is not really a mountain in the usual sense - it's actually an extension of the Coconino Plateau that has worn away around its edges to create a stand-alone plateau 'island'. It's summit is a very broad and flat region roughly 3/4-mile wide by 1.5-miles long, with a few bumps rising slightly above and one being the true top. The mountain is ringed in places by sheer sandstone cliffs, some over 1,500 feet tall and nearly vertical. Its geology is identical to the surrounding plateau. Erosion has, however, given Wilson Mountain a reasonably impressive 1,400 feet of prominence over its highest saddles. Naturally I was interested in the tippy top, but realized that in this case, the top was merely an afterthought, and that the real treat was the rims from which mind-blowing views were available. We rolled into the Encinosa Picnic Parking area and got our stuff in order, starting our hike in the late morning. It was pleasantly warm but not too bad, temperatures about 75. The sky was clear and the air was bone-dry. I packed in a bunch of extra water just in case. In we went.

We chose to follow the North Wilson Mountain trail, number 123 (as I recall). It's not marked on the topo map, but then again, the topo map dates from 1969. The other more popular option is to start at the south end near Midgely Bridge. Both routes are discussed in our guidebook; we chose the north since it offered more shade. The downside was that it would be steeper. From the parking lot we followed the trail up onto a small open ridge, which then led into the forested canyon. In the trees we had some shade, but it was warm. The trail was in great shape and pitched at a consistent, moderate grade, and we made pretty good time. At some point, the trail turned south and got steeper, hemmed in by sheer walls and thick, huge stands of ponderosa pine. Finally, the trail left the canyon bottom and started a long, grueling series of switchbacks up the canyon's east side. The flora lessened as we ascended, transitioning to more open, scrubbier juniper, mountain oak, sycamore and chapparal. We had fantastic views, mostly of massive cliff walls, but also of Oak Creek Canyon to our north, and an unnamed 5,800-foot hill that we used as a reckoning device for our elevation. The switchbacks eventually worm their way onto the north end of the First Bench of Wilson Mountain (as it's named on the maps). Finally, the grade eased and we found ourselves atop this 'First Bench' - a sub-plateau about a mile long and a few hundred feet wide, covered in low scrub, pinon and juniper, and stands of fir. We walked until we met up with the south trail, where we then ducked into the shade of a juniper for a long rest. We were approximately 6,320 feet elevation, having gained nearly 1,600 feet since our start. We figured about 2.5 miles to get here, in slightly over 2 hours. We enjoyed the views, especially onto the vast, forested Coconino Plateau to our east; Mormon Mountain stood tall in the distance, while Munds Canyon cut a swath into the green in front of us. Humphreys Peak loomed above the green to our north. A nice breeze blew, mitigating the moderate warmth of the day. Surprisingly, we came upon very few hikers - one girl descending as we ascended, and a couple up on the Bench. Other than that, nobody.

The First Bench had been a possible turn-around point but Beth was feeling good, and the top was not to far above us, just 700 more feet and maybe a half-mile. We followed the trail up through a dense glade of trees and brush, then up a drainage and up to a small saddle marked by an odd 'closet' lashed to a tree. It's USFS property, and we wondered what is kept in there. People have scratched in their graffito over the years. We decided to take a quick rest here and figure our plans. A trail spur heads south from here to an overlook at the south end of Wilson Mountain, while the main trail continued west then north about 1.25 miles to the northern rim, where one could view Humphreys Peak and the Coconino Plateau. The peak itself - Wilson Mountain's summit - was a short cross-country hike up moderate slopes to the north of this saddle. We opted to go south first and hike out to the overlook. The trail gains a short ways then slowly drops, coming out to the cliff edges and some absolutely mind-blowing views of the entire Sedona region. We expected some nice views but these were amazing! Every unique craggly red rock and spire was visible, plus the mazework of Sedona's roads. The Black Hills were off in the distance, including Woodchute Mountain, and, interestingly, the town of Jerome, which we could barely make out high up on the hills below Woodchute and Mingus Mountain. Way, way off on the southeast horizon we spied the hulk of Mazatzal Peak. The skies were crystal clear with humidities in the single digits. After a few minutes and many photos, we hiked back to the saddle. Next, we continued on the main trail as it descended ever so slightly, then ascended gradually, gaining about 120 feet in a half-mile through moderate forest cover. A nice meadow was passed at about the half-way mark. The trail then dropped gently for another half-mile, then ascended just a tiny bit to abruptly come upon the northern viewpoint (and cliffs). Holy smokes! Views here were just as amazing as they were to the south: unobstructed views of the northern reaches of Oak Creek Canyon, the numerous cliffs, and the plateau regions that form the highlands. Humphreys Peak stood tall like a giant in the center of the view. Bill Williams Peak, which we did a week ago, was off to the northwest. Beyond, vast nothingness and immeasurable ponderosa forests. Beautiful! Alas, we had to get moving after awhile. We walked back to the saddle where Beth opted to rest while I hiked up to the true summit. I followed some cairns and open paths to the top, a jumble of rocks right on the edge of the cliffs. The true top was a sharp spire, set out over the chasm. I just shimmied up beside it, leaned out and tagged it. No way to stand on it and I'll be damned if I was going to sit on it! Views here were okay but not as great. I headed back down, a total detour time of 20 minutes. It was now close to 5 p.m. and we started our descent off of Wilson Mountain.

I taped up Beth's knees and we took the hike slow, especially on the steep switchbacks coming down from the First Bench. In time, and taking care, we were well down into the lower canyon and back out to our truck, coming out about 7:30 in the evening. Both of us were hungry so we went into town, found our favorite sandwich shop (Wildflower Bread Company) for dinner, got some supplies at the market, and rode back to our camp, arriving after dark. We were both dead tired and out before long. A great hike - and some of the most incredible views you will ever see from the top!

Sad update, June 18, 2006 (a week later): A large wildfire called the Brins Fire erupted Sunday, June 18th, and within a day has grown to over 3,000 acres. Brins Canyon runs generally west of Wilson Mountain. The fire did reach the top of Wilson Mountain. We feel fortunate to have hiked this when we did, but feel awful knowing that the beautiful woodland atop the mesa is going up in flames. We understand this is part of the natural process, of course, but the immediate effect is a sad one.