Wilson Mountain was named for Richaard Wilson, who was mauled and killed by a grizzly bear in 1885. The Wilson Moutain Trail begins by Midgley Bridge at the mouth of Wilson Canyon. The trail climbs the southeast face of the mountain to the First Bench. The bench, stretching along the east side of the mountain, is a down-faulted chuck of land 700 feet below the summit that was originally part of the moutaintop. The trail provides fine vieews of the Red Rock Country and across Verde Valley. The path intersects with the North Wilson Trail and continues to the top of Wilson Mountain.
The Hike House Sedona Trail Rating System provides actual hiker feedback and ratings of each of the Sedona hiking trails. The cumulative trail ratings for the Wilson Mountain Trail to First Bench submitted by fellow hikers is located above with the Trail Data. Your trail feedback and ratings are an important resource for fellow hikers and provide a personal account of your trail experience from which others may learn. So please hike Sedona, help others, and rate a trail today!
Took the family, wife and two girls (13,15) on Sunday 10/23/11. We hiked the North route which starts at the Encinosa park in Oak Creek Canyon. 2 1/2 hours to the convergence of the Wilson and N. Wilson trails and back. Good view but next time we will leave a little earlier and go to the top of Wilson. The top is another 800 feet of gain, but is worth the extra effort.
Definitely one of my top ’10’ Sedona hikes. North Wilson is much preferred than South Wilson. South is longer with more really long switchbacks hear the rim. Watch for ice on North during cold periods. Quite an incline but worth it. Will repeat this one often.
I just ran/hiked this starting from the Midgery Bridge up to the North trail TH. Started at about 8:30am and it took me about 1h:45m to make it to the Wilson Mtn North TH. I mostly jogged but did stop a few times to take it in. Temp was fine despite lots of exposure. Going from South to north, the climb is longer and more gradual, which means the northern descent was shorter and steeper. Only saw one other person on this Thursday morning/afternoon. Great views with mixed terrain. Fairly technical with plenty of rocks so I wouldn’t wear road running shoes, definitely use hiking shoes/boots or trail runners. Fee to park at either trail head, but a hundred yards or so down the road from the bridge there’s a pull off that’ll fit a few cars and enough of a shoulder to (mostly) safely get to the trail. If you start and finish at the south end there’s a mile hike down to the creek with refreshingly cold water and shade!
Excellent hike. Yes difficult because of slope and loose rocks. I clocked it at 3.3 miles to first bench using map my walk. So worth it.