Bear Mountain
This is the baby of the bunch, but it's still a butt-kicker.
Bear Mountain sits in Sedona's red rock country west of town, technically outside the Coconino County response area but close enough that the MRU has been called in for assists on this trail more than once. It earns its spot on the Challenge Hike list on two counts: it's a route the team has seen on calls, and it's one of the more striking hikes in the region. The trail is a 4.5-mile out-and-back climbing roughly 2,400 feet from the trailhead at 4,600 feet to the summit ridge at 6,470 feet. The route looks deceptively short on paper, but the gain is concentrated in three distinct steep pitches connected by short flat shelves, so the hike is essentially climb-rest-climb-rest-climb until the top. Each pitch involves Class 2 scrambling over slickrock and loose talus, and the false summits along the way have demoralized more than a few first-timers. The true summit rewards the effort with a panoramic view across the western red rock country, Secret Mountain wilderness, and on clear days the San Francisco Peaks rising distantly to the north.
Completions (4)
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Managed to limp my up this one, all for the duck.
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As part of Grizzly Canyon. Excellent day out.
