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thronedoggie
May 21, 2007, 9:08 AM
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Registered: May 21, 2007
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Howdy -
Hope somebody can help us.
Four of us headed north to Jack's Canyon on Saturday. We got to mile marker 313 on 87, went .7 mile, found a gate on the left (north/west) side, went through it. We saw a FS sign that was covered with various stickers that would indicate the presence of climbers..
...but we DIDN'T see a turn at .1 miles past the gate. Instead, we found one at .2 tenths; from there, we took the turns that we think we were supposed to take, but we wound up going almost a mile from the last turn to what seemed to be the parking/camping loop. However, we found no cars there at all.
We found cairns that seemed to lead where we were going, down into the canyon, into an open grassy area and over to the creek -
But there all resemlence stopped. Nothing on that wall looked like anything in the guide book; it was supposed to be Casino Cliffs, but it sure didn't look like the pictures. And we hunted for bolts or trash - didn't find any anywhere along there. No obvious belay spots, no sign of any human activity.
We wandered up and down the canyon for three hours, but never saw ANY evidence of human concentrations - and never saw the first bolt, either.
We figured that the "most active sport climbing area in Northern Arizona" (as the book said) would have at least SOME people hanging around. But we saw nothing and nobody.
Any clues for the clueless?
thanks,
jim p.
...at the office in Scott$dale - didn't get any climbing done, but we did have some nice level hiking :)
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kyote321
May 22, 2007, 4:46 AM
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Registered: Apr 24, 2005
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sound like maybe you ended up at the asylum, which is single, large, south-facing wall with a big roof over it. that means you stayed to the left when you should have turned right. then, the road jogs back left and heads directly west.
the main area has an obvious toilet, if you didn't see that, you weren't there.
it is confusing out there. better luck next time!
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rcordray
May 24, 2007, 7:47 PM
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Registered: Jan 8, 2003
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In reply to: thronedoggie wrote: Howdy - Hope somebody can help us. Four of us headed north to Jack's Canyon on Saturday. We got to mile marker 313 on 87, went .7 mile, found a gate on the left (north/west) side, went through it. We saw a FS sign that was covered with various stickers that would indicate the presence of climbers.. ...but we DIDN'T see a turn at .1 miles past the gate. Instead, we found one at .2 tenths; from there, we took the turns that we think we were supposed to take, but we wound up going almost a mile from the last turn to what seemed to be the parking/camping loop. However, we found no cars there at all. We found cairns that seemed to lead where we were going, down into the canyon, into an open grassy area and over to the creek - But there all resemlence stopped. Nothing on that wall looked like anything in the guide book; it was supposed to be Casino Cliffs, but it sure didn't look like the pictures. And we hunted for bolts or trash - didn't find any anywhere along there. No obvious belay spots, no sign of any human activity. We wandered up and down the canyon for three hours, but never saw ANY evidence of human concentrations - and never saw the first bolt, either. We figured that the "most active sport climbing area in Northern Arizona" (as the book said) would have at least SOME people hanging around. But we saw nothing and nobody. Any clues for the clueless? thanks, jim p. ...at the office in Scott$dale - didn't get any climbing done, but we did have some nice level hiking :) Did EXACTLY the same thing the first time I went there. Followed the guidebook instructions to the letter and ended up likely in the same spot you found. Followed cairns down into the canyon and hiked for three hours up and down canyon - nothing! Here's the deal... Ignore the guide's directions! From the pavement, go through the gate and head west on the most used roads visible. generally it is west/northwest from the highway gate. You can't miss the camping area once you arrive. Porta potties and parking areas delineated by lines of rocks. The trail into the canyon is also hard to miss. It's well-graded and easy to follow. The casino cliffs are a nice intro. I've been back three times and it gets easier to find each time.
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thronedoggie
May 25, 2007, 7:51 AM
Post #4 of 9
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Registered: May 21, 2007
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Thanks a heap.
Wife's words - "The roads to a crag with hundreds of routes would be much more used than this".
We're heading up there today - I have the GPS with me, and the posted latitude and longitude.
Wuff, wuff :)
jim p.
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crackrn
May 26, 2007, 10:00 PM
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Registered: Jul 13, 2004
Posts: 282
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Hope you found it...if you did, did you see the trail markers at the road forks? My husband and I didn't even follow the book directions once we saw those
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thronedoggie
May 28, 2007, 5:21 PM
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Registered: May 21, 2007
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We found it on Friday - we followed no instructions other than 'follow the most-used road'. It was no trouble at all, once we did that :)
...we were the ONLY ones climbing (at least, that we saw) on Friday. We met one pair who said they had climbed somewhere, but the were coming from downcanyon and we were on Casino Cliffs, so I can't tell where they were.
On Saturday, we went to Seattle Grind in Winslow; we'd heard that Jim sold copies of the guide book there (it's out of print) but we couldn't find Jim and the girl at the counter knew nothing about it.
I suspect that we'll be back up there this coming weekend, or the next. There's a LOT there.
...here's something; I've been hearing that Jack's is graded soft. Well, I've decided that Utah must be graded soft; I was a pretty strong mid-10 leader there (Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons and the Uintahs) but I can't get anywhere near that grade here in Arizona.
thanks for the help,
jim p.
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crackmd
May 28, 2007, 5:40 PM
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Registered: Mar 23, 2002
Posts: 444
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I think SOME of the climbs are graded soft. Others are right on. If you go back and go to Crackerjack cliff I bet you'll be back where you usually hang out. JMHO.
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rcordray
May 28, 2007, 9:55 PM
Post #8 of 9
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Registered: Jan 8, 2003
Posts: 9
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Glad you finally found it. For the guidebook, try the Vertical Relief climbing gym in Flag. Last time I was there they still had some copies for sale. At the very least they have a counter copy to peruse and jot down some beta. Try this link:
http://www.drtopo.com/guidebooks/pdf_guides/usa/Arizona/jackscanyon.pdf
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climbsomething
May 28, 2007, 10:09 PM
Post #9 of 9
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Registered: May 29, 2002
Posts: 8568
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VR has a lot of Jacks books. But they're the older versions, even older than the one they were on when it went out of print. I don't know what's missing, since I just glanced at it.
That's really surprising that the guidebook would go out of print. Maybe that means they're working on a new one?
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