Backcountry Explorer

Embedded into the backcountry areas of Zion National Park, the Sierra Nevada, Death Valley National Park, and the Mojave Desert, Courtney Purcell's ramblings have also taken him all across the country and the world. From hiking, climbing and peakbagging in the Rockies, the Andes, the high volcanoes of Washington and Mexico, into the depths explored in spelunking, and the canyoneering of the Colorado Plateau, here you'll find trip reports, route beta and "stuff" relevant to the world of...

Wilson Mountain, Sedona's Highest

Where: Sedona, Arizona
When: May 2008
Partners: DB & Harlan Stockman
Route: Wilson Mountain Trail (Class 2)
Elevation/Gain: 11/2,400

The Acropolis (left) from the Wilson Mountain Trail
I've been meaning to get to Wilson Mountain for years. It's the highest around Sedona, and why not?

Nice views from the First Bench on Wilson Mountain
Despite two or three attempts, going as far as driving to the trailhead, donning a pack and walking 50 yards toward the actual trail, only to find it closed for whatever reason. It's never seemed to work out for me.

Harlan spots the footprint of a large predator along the trail
But in May 2008, it all came together. DB, Harlan and I assembled in Sedona for a multi-peak weekend that finale'd with a hike up the highest peak this Red Rock region has to offer.

DB on the very, tippy top
What we found was a beautiful trail system abuzz with wildflowers and scenery. The Wilson Mountain Trail worked its way up to a couple of shelves before dumping one off at a junction of viewpoints just below the actual summit.

The ever-acrobatic HW Stockman
An easy romp up to the top landed us at the base of a cluster of exposed crags with awesome views out to the north, including the San Francisco Peaks and Humphreys Peak.

Harlan and DB descending the beautiful Wilson Mountain Trail
With the prospect of a longish drive home, with much regret we signed the register (placed by John Vitz, of course, in 2006) and headed down.

...those moments when time stands still. The catalysts are as varied as the individuals who pursue this path: a meteor shower; a night sky so star-filled that it snatches your breath; another rise of the sun over distant mountains vast and untouchable; dodging a rock careening crazily down a gully; a desperate icy struggle through whiteout and ground blizzard down to the safety of camp after an unsuccessful summit attempt; standing atop a mountain with a friend, the whole world at your feet, a blinding sun blazing out of a flawless sky, taking the time to watch that sun dip below the horizon even though camp is still many miles and many thousands of feet distant; stumbling over boulders and through brush in the darkness; watching the starlight and the storm wrest for possession of the night sky, seated on a narrow ledge beside your rope-mate with only the clothes on your back for shelter, shivering the night away, knowing that, sometime in a distant place you cannot now touch, the world will once again grow bright, the sun will rise, and you will look out on the infant day with new eyes.

-Bruce Binder

One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am - a reluctant enthusiast....a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.

-Edward Abbey