Flintstone Canyon

A beautiful canyon located on the north side of West Fork Canyon. Raw and rugged, with lots of greenery and a few sculpted slots, less traveled than other more famous canyons nearby. Due to fire damage in the area, many of the anchors are off of large dead logs, dead trees, or rock cairns. Anchor points need to be inspected and have higher chance of needing replacement or may even be non existent after storms. Optional sneak exit requires 4th class scrambling and some mild 5th class climbing on highly volatile terrain. If taking the sneak, canyon rating is 3B III R.

Take FR 536A in off of FR 536 and drive to the end of the road and park there. Head in a North West direction to pick up the shallow drainage marked on the map. Descend the drainage until you are forced to rappel 100ft to the canyon floor of Flintstone.

R1: 100' tree RDC R2: 40’ into pool with short swimmer. R3: 65' large log. (30' back) R4: 50' rock cairn R5: 75' rock cairn (15' back) R6: 70' bolt RDC into slot R7: 65’ wedged stump into pool Multiple downclimbs R8: 35' large log into pool R9: 20' large log LDC R10: 20' tree LDC or downclimb R11: 45' boulder RDC into pothole with potential pool

West Fork Creek Exit Continue down canyon to the confluence with West Fork of Oak Creek. Turn left and follow the creek downstream. After the scenic subway section, pick up West Fork Trail and follow it 3 miles to the Call of the Canyon parking area to retrieve the shuttle vehicle. Although it includes more hiking and a long shuttle, this is the safer and recommended exit option. Sneak Exit Continue down canyon following KML track until reaching the exit drainage. Scramble up the loose, brushy drainage eventually turning right and scrambling up another even steeper and looser drainage until you reach a saddle. Turn left, traverse to the final gully, and you will be soon faced with a 10' 5th class climb with good hand holds. Once up, there is more 4th class climbing up a particularly dirty section of the gully with minimal hand and footholds. This section is very vertical and is riddled with unstable rock and downed trees. Wear helmets and use extreme caution! Continue along the ridge line until it flattens out and you reach your vehicle. Pants and long sleeves highly recommended, as well as body armor if you have it.