Immaculate Canyon and West Fork of Oak Creek

Coconino National Forest, AZ Sedona + Flagstaff + Grand Canyon South

Trip stats

Distance
7.4 mi
Net Gain
Minimal ft
Time
7-10 hrs
YDS Rating
Class 2
ACA Rating
3B III
Longest Rappel
180 ft
Route
Shuttle

Ratings out of 10

Effort
3.1/10
Personality
7/10
Beauty
7/10
Solitude
5.2/10
What do these mean? →

Route map + Trailhead

Trailhead Coordinates

34.997430, -111.792840

The directions link below drops a pin on the trailhead coordinates and lets Google Maps pick the route. If the drive has rough roads or access issues that GPS nav might get wrong, I cover that in my trip report.

Get directions (opens Google Maps in a new tab)

Trip report

Technical canyon warning

This is a technical canyon requiring canyoneering skills and specialized equipment. If you are not experienced with building anchors or using the gear required for technical canyoneering, do not attempt this route.

Jul 2, 2019 — Immaculate Canyon uses a very similar route to Illusions Canyon, which we did a couple of months ago. There is an option for a sneak route, but we wanted to enjoy the downhill and to explore a bit more of the West Fork of Oak Creek, so we set up a shuttle: one car along the road just outside the Call of the Canyon Trailhead (apparently it's a small fortune to leave a car past closing), and took the other to the top of the plateau. It's a long drive on a web of forest roads.

Starting from a point on a forest road where a downed tree blocked further driving progress, we headed into the brushy drainage that marked the start of Immaculate Canyon. A few obstacles led to the first few rappels, which pooped us down mossy, pretty chutes into waist-deep water at most. Eventually, we made it to the first big rappel of 150 feet, a sheer cliff with a narrow crevasse, which sucked. We tossed the ropes pretty far but they managed to get caught on every single pebble within the crevasse, resulting in a very long and tedious rappel for me as I had to reflake the rope at least three times.

Another mossy chute led to the longest rappel, which we could have broken into two parts because a bolt was placed halfway down. A deep pool met us at the bottom that we avoided with some acrobatics and a log, and then another long rappel appeared directly after. This rappel was the prettiest in my opinion, with a really nice colorful chute. A short and silly final rappel led to the mouth of the narrows, and then the drainage opened up, the canyon requiring some more bushwhacking through annoying greenery and downed logs of dubious stability. Eventually we made it to West Fork of Oak Creek, a lovely hike back to our second car.

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Photos

54 photos

  1. Starting into the brushy drainage that leads to Immaculate Canyon.
  2. Some obstacles within the mossy drainage.
  3. First rappel.
  5. At the bottom of the first rappel, mossy and gorgeous.
  6. Another short rappel.
  7. Approaching the first long rappel.
  8. At the top of the first rappel.
  9. It wasn't a fun rappel - the rope got stuck three times on tiny pebbles in the crack
  10. Bottom of the long, dumb crack rappel. It's a better experience for anyone but the first to go down.
  11. A forgettable rappel off a tree.
  12. Looking down another rap, with pretty chutes.
  14. Looking back up the pretty chute rappel.
  15. Looking down the big 180 footer.
  16. Shot up at Matt coming down the 180-footer. I paused at the halfway point since there was a ledge and a bolt that allowed us to break the rap into two parts, but we didn't.
  17. Shot of Matt on the second part of the 180-footer.
  18. Looking up at the ledge/optional second rap station on the 180-footer.
  19. Last bit into a pool on the big rappel.
  20. The pool, avoidable with some acrobatics using this log.
  21. Final major rappel, the most gorgeous of the day.
  22. Looking back up at the last big rappel.
  25. A nonsense 15-foot rappel at the end of Immaculate Canyon.
  26. Looking back at the mouth of Immaculate Canyon.
  27. Some obstacles as we made our way to West Fork of Oak Creek.
  28. Within West Fork of Oak Creek.
  33. This was my second time hiking down West Fork of Oak Creek - it was just as gorgeous this time.
  34. Really wonderful mossy walls and tall cliffs.
  36. A section of waist-deep water. There were a few of these, but no rappels.
  40. Just a bunch more photos of West Fork of Oak Creek.
  47. At the section of West Fork of Oak Creek that most turn around at, the end of the official trail. This really pretty feature looks similar to Zion's The Subway.
  49. On the official Call of the Canyon Trail.
  54. Call of the Canyon Trailhead. We had left our second car just outside the parking lot on the side of the road.

Photo 1 of 1

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