Jack's Canyon Climbing

cactuscat · Joined: 04 Jan 2003 Posts: 459 Location: Phoenix

Jess and I made our first trip to Jack's on Wednesday - bad timing because of the wind, but this place is awesome!

Jack's is a virtual playground for climbers, and we were giddy with joy when we saw the sweet pockets and endless bolted lines. We only got our first couple of easy climbs done though, before the wind drove us off the rock and into our tent. We climbed an unamed 5.4 on the Casino Cliffs wall, then the fun 5.5 "Sinker" down canyon a bit.

The camping is remote feeling and primitive - one toilet and signboard is it. There was just one other vehicle, at the other end of the camping area, and we saw just two people and one dog in the canyon other than ourselves ... pretty nice to have "northern arizona's premier sport climbing location" all to yourself!

Unfortunately, the intense winds kept up all night, along with a few light showers and the cold and still windy morning convinced us to head for home instead of trying to climb anymore. Not a wasted trip, though because we still had fun and now know that we will be visiting this place regularly. We're planning to go again in two weeks.

On the way south we turned off on the Blue Ridge Resevoir road to have a look, which turned out to be a nice little side trip. We saw three wild turkeys (a tom with two hens), walked a bit on the Arizona Trail, and found a hatchet in the middle of the forest road (Jess has been wanting a hatchet!).

One note for anyone going to Jack's Canyon for the first time; the directions in the climbing books are not the best. You'll find the turnoff of highway 87 at mile 313.7 like they say - you'll know it's right because the signboard is plastered with climbing stickers. From the gate, however, just follow the main road directly to the parking/camping area - there are no real "turns", just bear left at about .3 miles and you will get to it in about a mile. Climb on! Mr. Green

JW · Posted: 4/13/2007, 6:49 pm Post subject:

Kelly, sent you a Pmail about climbing at Jack's.
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Suz · Joined: 27 Nov 2005 Posts: 3186

Coo! Did you get any pictures? What type of rock were you on? Please don't tell me it was a granite slab route like that sweet little quaker oats nightmare.

Nighthiker · Joined: 05 Jan 2003 Posts: 1714

Great area around Blue Ridge, lots of wildlife. Set up base camp hiked and mtn.biked (including camping) the area. Visited Jacks Canyon last year but did not do any climbing. Actully lots of traffic for middle of the week.

cactuscat · Joined: 04 Jan 2003 Posts: 459 Location: Phoenix

Ha! No granite slabs at Jack's, Suz. It's sandstone I think, or else limestone. Either way it has nice big pockets to sink your fingers into - although they make fairly painful footholds. The climbing is quite steep though, so even with the great holds you can get pumped quickly - I need to work on arm strength for sure.

Suz · Joined: 27 Nov 2005 Posts: 3186

Oh that sounds much better than granite....LOL. Eventually I'll conquer that granite.

Hey is there a climbing site like HAZ that lists and describes places in detail with pictures? I know REI had some paper brochures with routes but I'm wondering if you know of other resources.

cactuscat · Joined: 04 Jan 2003 Posts: 459 Location: Phoenix

You can try rockclimbing.com and summitpost.com. I think there might also be an arizonarock.com site, but not sure. I usually rely on books for my climbing info.