Trip report
Apr 17, 2018 — There are two trails up Wilson Mountain, the Wilson Mountain Trail and the North Wilson Trail. The latter seemed steeper and had fewer people, so this hike was my pick. I later found out from a friend that this was likely the prettier of the two options. The North Wilson Trail ascends through a really pleasant canyon before switchbacking up to a bench on the east side of Mount Wilson. From here you get nice views of the peak's cliff face. Toward the southern end of the bench, the North Wilson Trail meets with the Wilson Mountain Trail and they join to ascend west up a couple more gradual switchbacks and up to the mostly flat, long summit area of Wilson Mountain. There's no trail to the summit of Wilson Mountain from the trail, so the last few hundred feet are an easy bushwhack. There were some great views from the summit. I backtracked oto the trail and continued to the southern side of Wilson Mountain via a trail, where there's an even nicer viewpoint than the summit down into Sedona. If you care to walk an additional three miles, you can get a view from the northern end (I didn't).