Latest:	21 Dec 2024 (23 days ago)

Reported by:	RFontaine (235 reports)
Quality:	Good
Waterflow:
Wetsuit:
Water temperature:
Difficulty:
Time:	5 hours

Team: 4 people with experience level Intermediate to Advanced

Trip report URL:

Comments: A really good route with a bunch of decent rappels and lots of neat features throughout! We did the bottom up loop.. Steep, scrambly with very minimal bush. Having done top down in the past I much prefer this option, not as gnarly as the top down loop. Water was present but entirely avoidable. Exit down Sterling Canyon was pretty and easy. Again, way better than exiting back up to the rim!! 5 hours at a chill pace, even with some self rescue practice!

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
31 Dec 2024	Great	Dry	None	Normal	5 hours	4 people Beginner to Advanced	Mfeingol (51 reports)
Comment: This is a really fun half-day canyon. One rappel after another through pretty scenery. Definitely worth the bottom-up ridge approach, which is a little steep at first and then scrambly later, but really not that bad. Our 5 hours included some time setting up a guided rappel over a tiny puddle of water, because why not?
21 Dec 2024	Good				5 hours	4 people Intermediate to Advanced	RFontaine (235 reports)
Comment: A really good route with a bunch of decent rappels and lots of neat features throughout! We did the bottom up loop.. Steep, scrambly with very minimal bush. Having done top down in the past I much prefer this option, not as gnarly as the top down loop. Water was present but entirely avoidable. Exit down Sterling Canyon was pretty and easy. Again, way better than exiting back up to the rim!! 5 hours at a chill pace, even with some self rescue practice!
27 Sep 2024					6 hours		Dyln cole (42 reports)
Comment: Webbing in good condition, went up sterling and back down to the 89, avoided R12 water easy, hot day.
27 Jul 2024	Good	Dry	None	Normal	7 hours	6 people	AZ Advocate (40 reports)
Comment: Familiarization run through Crack Addict today with Coconino County SAR. Lots of rappels, some funky/fun starts, and amazing scenery make this one an excellent place to get some great time on rope. Most anchor webbing was in great shape but there were a few which will need to be changed out within a month or 2. Set up a guideline with a double CEM at R12 as the pool at the bottom was still about 30-36" deep and unavoidable.
29 Jun 2024	Good	Very Low	None	Normal	8 hours	4 people	AZ Advocate (40 reports)
Comment: Another fun tour through this gem, which is an excellent choice when summer sun chases you away from Sedona's routes. We replaced soggy webbing at R1 and removed new red webbing with double escape rings at R3, and R11 due to rock fall potential. All other anchor webbing was in great shape. R11 and R12 are now bolted with placements which allow for easy pulls.
25 May 2024							Skyotie (13 reports)
Comment: Added webbing on DCR off living tree for R11. Approximately 20' long to allow for easy pull. Other anchors are all in good shape
16 May 2024	Good				5 hours	4 people Beginner to Advanced	Mjbirdno (8 reports)
Comment: The LDC bypass at rappel 11 has very high rockfall potential. Lots of loose rocks came off as we did the new sequence of 2 rappels. If I did it again, I would sling webbing around the large boulder above R11 (up canyon from the prior / dying tree), cover the webbing on the back side with a stack of rocks, and extend the webbing 20-30 feet, closer to the edge.
20 Apr 2024	Great	Very Low	None				Isaactcheek (1 reports)
Comment: R11 tree anchor is very dead and very suspect. We chose to scramble to a ledge DCL to use a much sturdier tree, though it was in a slightly awkward position. If using the tree anchor DCL, be mindful of loose rocks.
12 Nov 2023	Good			Normal	5 hours	4 people Advanced	EMoorcroft (434 reports)
Comment: R 11 trees are dying and may no longer provide a good anchor source. Fun little route in oak creek. Fall colors were still nice.
15 Jul 2023	Great	Very Low	None	Normal	7 hours	2 people Beginner to Intermediate	AZ Advocate (40 reports)
Comment: We looped the canyon, starting from the bottom and ascended up Sterling Canyon. The vegetative hardships contained within Sterling Canyon deserve special recognition as the density of raspberries, locust, and other such spiny/thorny brush is truly remarkable. Apart from that, it's a great approach, brutal but great type 2 fun. Even in the summer, with an early 5:30am start we were shaded for the majority of the hike up. If hiking up Sterling, it's much much easier to drop into Crack Addict from the Upper Parking pin instead of the head of the drainage, like the GPX track on rope wiki shows. Trust me, you'll have had your fill of bushwhacking in Sterling, so unless you're anxious for more of the same, just drop in from the upper parking pin. NOTE: If you owned a Sterling CanyonPrime rope which happened to get stuck on the last rappel, we hiked it out and left it at Peace Outfitters in Flagstaff. Just swing by to pick it up. Thank you Peace Outfitters!!
3 Jul 2023	Great	Very Low	None	Normal	10 hours	4 people Beginner to Intermediate	Az adventurer (1 reports)
Comment: Did the loop hike starting at the bottom from the highway and hiking up the ridgeline. Approach was doable but steep/loose in some sections. Canyon was overall mostly dry (small avoidable pools) except for the last rappel, where there was an unavoidable large pool of water at the bottom about waist deep. Replaced webbing at most anchors (except rap 10, we used 9 as an anchor for both 9 and 10). Awesome day and great canyon!
8 Jun 2023	Great	Deep pools	None	Normal	5 hours	4 people Brand new to Expert	Greatshaitan (45 reports)
Comment: Out here for a Mountain Rescue Conference and decided to run this guy. Was a fun trip with a couple of brand new people. Backed up the webbing on the rap 12. Also did a guided rappel to avoid the last swimmer, well all avoided but me :) We used two vehicles and exited to the road.
29 May 2023		Very Low	None	Normal	7 hours	2 people Beginner to Advanced	24evolution (9 reports)
Comment: Bottom up,so brutal approach. Logged 1400' elevation gain. Backcountry is LUSH and ABUNDANDANT. Beautiful canyon. Slung a pine to miss the water on R9. Deep swimmer at the end, avoided with an awesome partner and guided rappel. At the car just under 7 hours.
27 Nov 2022	Great	Very Low	None	Normal	4 hours	7 people Intermediate to Expert	Scientist (8 reports)
Comment: Since there is a construction zone, we did not park at the first switchback loop, instead started from a southbound parking past fish hatchery on 89a highway. Easy to find approach trail with some thorny bushes. There were just a couple of climbing spots that require good climbing skills. Nice and easy rappels with all anchors in good conditions. Second to last rappel was done by removing shoes and walking on a tree trunk in the freezing water with bare feet (ankle deep) or just walking with shoes on (gore-tex or canyoneering shoes with neoprene socks. Exit was easy to find and pretty fast.
27 Sep 2022 Trip report	Great	Very Low	None		7 hours	3 people Intermediate	Staceygirl (6 reports)
Comment: We did this as a loop from the upper parking and everything was just perfect until the exit hike, and I'm not talking about the fact that it started raining and hailing on us after rap 12. The GPS seems to be a bit off, and we wasted a LOT of time trying to make our way up some class 4 terrain only to be stopped by a chock stone. We went back down and finally realized we needed to go left to get into the correct drainage. I don't know if we found the best way, but we did it by following a near vertical gray wall on our left and climbing up some sketchy loose dirt until we got on a boulder. Then We were able to go left over another boulder into the drainage. We are hoping there is a better way that we just missed. After another while bushwhacking and boulder hopping, we saw that we had to go left straight up the loose dirt sides of the canyon through bushes galore. Again, not sure if there's a better way. It was very steep, but doable without any tricky moves or real exposure. Just pure grit to get through. If I did it again, I'd try for a car shuttle, as I've heard the 89 exit is not too hard.