Spotting some beautiful wild horses on our drive through Phinney Canyon:
The snow on the road got thicker, the grade got steeper, and the road got rougher. So we parked and started hiking:
A rough spot in Phinney Canyon Road has been filled in with rocks:
Passing by the well known boulder which has rolled onto the upper portion of Phinney Canyon Road:
View looking back down Phinney Canyon as we gained elevation:
Finally reaching the saddle after hiking up 1,000 feet in elevation and looking over the other side into Upper Moonlight Canyon. The snow capped Sierras can be seen in the distance:
From the saddle on, the road has long been closed and is now just a hiking trail:
Trees and branches have fallen over the old road in places:
Steve emerging from working his way under a fallen tree:
At this spot, the road has come to an end and we are about to start our cross-country navigating:
Throne Rock can be seen a few minutes later. It looks like a stone chair that a giant walking by would sit down in. Use Throne Rock (a bit blurry in the center of this picture) to find your way back to this point:
A landslide of purple rocks on the hillside up to the right:
As you can see, there was no straight path through the brush and trees. It was a matter of constant navigation and zigzagging:
Continuing to work our way through with a nice view of the Cottonwood Mountains far in the distance:
This section we have named the Hillside Walk because if you stay to the right there is much easier terrain along the flat hillside just before the side canyon meets up:
Interesting banded rock formations sticking up on the hillside:
Once the main side canyon converges with Moonlight Canyon, the terrain gets a little bit easier with a small wash to walk in:
Reaching what we have named the Preview Narrows, which are a short section of narrows long before the actual canyon narrows start:
Steve standing on the edge of a minor dry fall:
This is what that minor dry fall looks like from below. This entire section can be easily bypassed, but we dropped in to explore it:
Looking further down this short section of narrows with its rugged rock texture:
This is another minor dry fall in this short section of narrows:
Bighorn sheep skull and horns found along the way in the wash:
The terrain once again got a bit brushy and slowed down progress:
Finally arriving. Steve standing on the edge of the 6th major dry fall of Moonlight Canyon:
Looking over the edge of the 6th dry fall. This was actually a three stage dry fall:
A close-up of the 6th dry fall as the polished chutes drop down:
Tobin snapped this picture of Steve reviewing his bypass notes which had been sent to him by a climber friend a couple of years earlier:
The challenging bypass would go up and around the hillside in this picture, staying a ways below the base of the rock wall seen in the distance:
View further down Moonlight Canyon as we headed around on the bypass:
From the bypass we snapped this picture of the top of the 5th major dry fall of Moonlight Canyon. If you drop off the bypass too soon, you will be stranded in between the bottom of the 6th and the top of the 5th dry falls:
Tobin making his way up the first part of the bypass. As you can see, we have to climb up quite high from the wash:
Continuing to circle around the bypass, not too high but not too low either. Looking back at the complete 6th dry fall:
On the bypass heading over the distant ridge finally, which will get us past the 5th dry fall:
Now we have to choose 1 of like 5 possible gullies to head back down and get off the bypass. At least 3 of the 5 looked really scary. We analyzed all of them and chose the one we were most comfortable with:
Here Tobin is carefully making his way down the gully we have chosen, which still included some steep sections with crumbly rock:
Tobin climbing down off of the bypass and dropping to the canyon floor. I chose a little bit easier of a route, which didn't involve any climbing, just extreme caution:
After that we walked back up the canyon to see what we had missed. Steve is pictured here at the base of the very pretty 5th dry fall:
Time now to head down canyon and find out what else is in store for us:
As you can see, it was quite a cold day during our December hike. Temperatures while we were hiking dropped as low as 17F:
Majestic peaks towering above Upper Moonlight Canyon:
A neat area with three different rock slides coming down from the mountain:
Check out the unique shape and design of this rock:
Up ahead the canyon started narrowing down and we had great anticipation:
Sure enough, we walked around a corner into our first official section of the Moonlight Canyon narrows:
Steve getting a picture at the beginning of the upper narrows:
First sign of the contrasting colors of red and purple, which would punctuate the narrows:
A lone tree guarding entrance to the taller narrows we were about to enter:
The next two pictures highlight the red and purple rock walls on opposite sides of the canyon:
Large purple boulders which have fallen into the middle of the wash:
The steep slopes and uplifted tilting of the canyon rock was very interesting to behold, as seen in the next two pictures:
In the middle of Moonlight Canyon's spectacular and lengthy upper narrows:
Patterns across the polished surface of the rock:
From this point on, the canyon narrows had such a remarkable beauty:
Notice the contrasting purple and red which I spoke about earlier on full display here:
Lots of smaller dry falls were spread out through the narrows. None were super challenging:
The beautiful rock of Moonlight Canyon's narrows is on display in the next two photos:
High above the canyon walls of the narrows was this rectangular rock sticking out. This rock makes the Diving Board on Half Dome look tame by comparison:
A series of small ledges which must be climbed down to continue through the narrows:
Up ahead there was a black stained undercut or small cave where the canyon took a sharp right:
Around the bend we continued hiking through more narrows:
I had actually expected the narrows to end much earlier, so it was a great surprise to find them continuing for such a long time:
Very pretty section of dark purple rock. Notice, too, the brilliantly shining light colored rock at the base of the right side of the canyon:
More uplifted diagonals of rock in the narrows:
Passing by a high canyon wall that shot straight up in the air:
Hiking through another stunning section of narrows. Notice the reds in the background:
As you look at the next four pictures, notice the increasing level of beauty as we got deeper into the narrows. Moonlight Canyon was saving the best for last:
This is the only picture I'm sharing of the 4th dry fall of Moonlight Canyon. We part climbed and part slid down this dry fall and then turned back to take this picture. As you can see, it is a bit tricky getting back up. There is a small chute to the left which needs to be friction climbed. Either that, or you will need a boost, because the rock is smooth and slippery:
Continuing through the narrows past the 4th dry fall:
Tobin standing on a rock in this amazing section of canyon with unique rock shapes:
As you can see in the next two pictures, light and dark purple colors were really taking over the canyon:
Check out this awesome dry fall and chute, which starts straight and then takes a sharp turn to the right:
True slot narrows in Moonlight Canyon. This place just keeps getting better and better:
Another set of minor dry falls that we had to climb down. But it wasn't as hard as it looks:
Up ahead we could see that the narrows were looking fantastic. We kept hoping that we wouldn't run into any obstacles to stop us:
Just a small passage through the wash as the canyon continued to wind around:
The cliffs and peaks high above the canyon would come into view once in a while:
Continuing to progress through the narrows in our next three pictures:
Up ahead we were approaching the grand finale of Upper Moonlight Canyon. I knew this because the sheer beauty of the slot narrows and bright red background took over and I had remembered that from my hike through Lower Moonlight Canyon:
The ending is probably my favorite section of both halves of Moonlight Canyon. It's too bad that they have to be hiked separately if you are not a climber:
Looking back towards the narrows we had just walked through:
And we have reached the end. Steve standing on the top of the 3rd major dry fall of Moonlight Canyon:
Looking down at the base of the 3rd dry fall. Notice that a balloon is down at the bottom, but we had no way to get down there to pack it out:
Carefully inching down a small ledge on the right side of the 3rd dry fall to get some pictures:
Looking back at the top of the 3rd dry fall from along the ledge. You can see that it is topped with a massive chockstone. Only climbers can get down this:
And this is the view down from the left side of the 3rd dry fall:
If you look just to the left of me, you can see down the wash passage and how these are true slot narrows. The slot narrows of Moonlight Canyon are probably my favorite single spot of any canyon in the park:
A small panoramic taken in Moonlight Canyon on the hike back out:
We ended up barely being able to reach the old road before dark and we hiked out of Moonlight Canyon by way of the moonlight:
