Bear Canyon - West Clear Creek Wilderness, Arizona
This place...This place keeps calling me back, then beating the crap out of me.
So I wanted to try an easy technical canyon as my first one after shoulder surgery (they said it would take a full year to completely heal), so I picked Bear Canyon. This would be my fourth or fifth time through, so I may have gone in pretty confident. I also may not have done anything outside for a few weeks leading up to this. I ALSO may not have paid much attention to the forecast (in regard to temperature; I did check for rain.) Finally, I may have slept in about 3 hours longer than I should have.
That's stupid. This is West Clear Creek. The same West Clear Creek that I've visited dozens of times. The same West Clear Creek that kicks my butt with consistency more than any other wilderness area I visit.
When we headed in, it was surprisingly hot. Like really hot. I think it was about 110 in Phoenix, but this was higher elevation, so I figured it would be cooler. Well, it wasn't high enough. On the way in, the steep approach and slippery pine needles slowed us down a ton. Even though it was a short hike, by the time we got to the canyon, I was over heated. It sucked the energy right out of me and I was actually in trouble. I couldn't go far without having to take a break, and it was hard to cool down. We sat in the shade for about 30 minutes deciding if it would be better to hike back out the way we came (shorter, but hot) or go through the canyon (really cold swims to cool down, but physically harder and a higher climb to exit.) You won't see any footage of that dilemma in this video because it was serious enough that I had a lot more on my mind than filming. I'm fine with that because this was all the fault of my poor decisions and I don't want this to be a 'drama' video, despite how many views that may bring. Just let me be stupid off camera every now and then.
Anyway, surprise, we lived. After resting and cooling down, we decided to continue on. I was seriously concerned about hikng back out the hot and steep approach. I hoped that the cold water would help cool us down and that the excitement of the slot canyon and technical section would get my head in the game enough to mentally power through the fatigue.
And that worked great. That water was freezing. I'm a big wimp when it comes to cold water and I am not ashamed to say that. Which is why I left all that stuff in the video. And it's funny. I usually focus on more cinematic shots, but I wanted a little bit of the reality of canyoneering left in there. Yes, all you seasoned canyoneers can have a laugh at me. I don't mind. I live in the desert and my blood has thinned out considerably.
Bear Canyon is really popular for a reason. I think the video shows why. It's not difficult, it only takes 3~5 hours and it is absolutely beautiful. Not to mention it takes you to an incredible section of West Clear Creek and has a relatively easy exit. Bear Canyon is the first technical canyon a lot of people ever did. And yet Bear Canyon is regularly re-visited by seasoned pros.
Anyway, I'm tired and I need to finish packing for our next trip, so I'm done writing. Hopefully you enjoy the video. And for you long time viewers, you've probably seen this before, but hopefully it's still fun to watch.
Music by Artlist:
Stillness Solace - FableForte
Secret No 3 - DaniHaDani
Along the Way - The Hunts