Canyoneer Devil’s Canyon (Five Pools) Tonto National Forest, AZ

Devil’s Canyon is the major drainage housing a feature known as Five Pools, a series of waterfalls plunging into deep and wide sculpted bowls. It’s located east of Superior, AZ, near a popular climbing area and sacred site for the Western Apache called Oak Flat. Unfortunately, it’s also the proposed location for a massive underground copper mine by Resolution Copper. If approved, the project could become one of North America’s largest copper mines, restricting public access to the area—including Devil’s Canyon. As of our trip in April 2025, access was still legal.

We drove south on FR-215 from here (33.29829, -111.05955), and parked when my Crossover SUV couldn’t get past a badly rutted section. Better vehicles can make it to the head of Hackberry Creek. It’s also likely you could approach from AZ-177 (33.22541, -111.07766) to use our exit route in reverse and skip the slog through the Devil’s Canyon drainage, but more on that later.

After a short road walk from where we parked, we dropped into the Hackberry Creek drainage and followed it as it narrowed into some gorgeous narrows, with jagged spires looming above. A Class 3 dryfall broke up otherwise straightforward slickrock walking and Class 2 boulder-hopping. We reached the junction with Devil’s Canyon, where there wasn’t any semblance of a trail. Instead, the nice slickrock within Hackberry was replaced with bushwhacking and the occasional unwelcome encounter with poison oak. It was a beautiful canyon, but we were all independently starting to think about alternative ways back to the cars. Surely there was a better route than this brushy mess.

What might once have been a trail mostly stuck to the right of the flowing water. Some light scrambling helped us descend farther, weaving past small waterfalls that provided both cool-off spots and the lovely sound of running water. Devil’s Canyon twisted through a few bends, until eventually we reached the Five Pools feature.

The first rappel had a fixed line already in place, but it also made for a great jump (after checking the depth for each other). The water was colder than I’d expected, and I was slightly jealous of the half of our group that brought wetsuits. Fortunately, we were there at midday, with the sun directly overhead.

A quick little waterslide brought us to the top of Rap 2, where the walls steepened dramatically. Rap 2 was a short drop into a long, deep pool. We were totally blown away by the stunning Rap 3. The rappel itself was only about 60 feet, but the surrounding walls soared much higher, cradling a massive bowl of water, which would soon be a fantastic little swim. Past this pool, we were at the top of Rap 4, which started as a slickrock slope and then dropped sharply into yet another deep pool. Overhead, a lush spectacle of vines and mosses blanketed the rocks.

None of us were sure what to do next, but another pair of hikers who had just arrived suggested scrambling out to the right via a steep face and traversing back to the top of Rap 1. Quick rant: The guys were super friendly, but I was annoyed that we were told not to post about this spot, yet one had a flooded social feed of it and was carrying a glass mason jar today, an incredible display of both elitist gatekeeping and LNT disregard at the same time.

This escape route choice was a 15-foot Class 4 scramble from a notch at the bottom of the large pool. It was vertical and exposed, but with reliable, chunky holds that made it feel solid. Another short non-exposed Class 4 move followed, then a Class 3 traverse that followed brought us back to where we’d stashed our gear at the top of Rap 1. Along the way, we spotted an alternate escape route on the opposite side of the canyon that looked (of course) easier. Later research confirmed it likely is: fix ropes for Raps 1 and 2, then instead of escaping to the right as we did, head left and traverse to the bottom of Rap 2. Then use your fixed lines to return.

Rather than reversing the canyon, we opted for an alternate exit by peering up into the hills to the west. We spotted a small cairn and, at first, only a faint trail led west out of the drainage. Then, a surprisingly well-defined social trail took us up the slope, connecting with an excellent trail that led toward what maps label as EK Tank. We were thrilled to avoid the brush and to hike along grassy slopes instead. Past the completely dry tank, we picked up a barely discernible old road that climbed to higher ground and eventually linked up with the main dirt road. This road, drivable only by the most hardcore vehicles, led us back to the cars. You can likely more easily reach this other trailhead (EK Tank) from AZ-177, but I’m unsure how poor that road in would be.