14 intrepid hikers braved the heat to bushwhack and rock-hop their way to the colorful box canyon north of Sedona. They were Peter Ng, Stephen Trombitas, Darleen Lindquist, Doris Madueno, Angela Lin, Mary Singleton, J.C. Pinney, Loyd Cook, Himanshu Rawell, Vince Chiego, Cara Ludwick, Amanda Dabney, Clara Tenny, and hike leader Ted Tenny.

The hike begins on a closed but well-maintained gravel road which soon becomes an abandoned Jeep trail which becomes the Brins Mesa Trail.

But the route to Angel Falls is through Mormon Canyon. To get there from the Brins Mesa Trail is an unmarked bushwhack of 200 yards through thick manzanita forest.

As soon as you can see the back side of the Fin, a high, thin rock formation northwest of Steamboat Rock, it’s time to leave the Brins Mesa Trail and start bushwhacking eastward.

Ted put up a cairn to mark the place where we entered the canyon, then removed it when we left.

Once in Mormon Canyon we rock-hopped our way up to the falls, enjoying shade, an occasional breeze, and red slickrock on the way. In several places there are tributaries which flow into Mormon Canyon.

At each junction we stayed in the largest streambed, which is the route to the falls.

At one point where there is slickrock, after the first tributary from the right (east), we looked east and saw some red rocks above us, halfway up Wilson Mountain, that look like a row of barrels.

A formation below them and to the right looks like a rock wall.

Everything is dry but there is evidence of past flooding in the canyon, as some trees have had the soil washed away from their roots.

We pass many fallen tree trunks which we have to go over, under, or around.

The canyon turns to slickrock as we approach the falls. There are fantastic red rock sculptures formed by erosion. The box canyon itself is a series of smooth red and yellow basins with increasingly steep rises between them. Desert varnish marks the places where water occasionally flows.

J.C. and Ted found some lizards and a puddle of water with bugs in it (the only water we saw on today’s hike!) as they explored the bottom two basins.

Several times, the hikers got separated into two or more parties. Motorola 2-way radios and a sports whistle were effective at getting everyone back together.

When we bushwhacked from the canyon back to the Jeep trail, the main party went up ahead while Ted took himself and the last three hikers back to Brins Mesa Trailhead on an alternate route.