Crag near Little Wild Horse Canyon in San Rafael Swell???

I've heard about this sweet looking crag with hundreds of splitter cracks close to Bell Canyon and Little Wild Horse Canyon. I can't seem to find anything on this place. Is it one of those 'secret crags' that no one is supposed to talk about? I'd love to head out there and check it out this spring but would like a little more information on it than "it's near Little Wild Horse".

thanks

steven sadler wrote:I've heard about this sweet looking crag with hundreds of splitter cracks close to Bell Canyon and Little Wild Horse Canyon. I can't seem to find anything on this place. Is it one of those 'secret crags' that no one is supposed to talk about? I'd love to head out there and check it out this spring but would like a little more information on it than "it's near Little Wild Horse". thanks

Not sure, but I've certainly seen a wall with a ton of really good looking splitter cracks after exiting little wild horse and before heading over to bell canyon. I've always wanted to bring a rack and check it out but I've never had a chance. I know that there is a way to get to it by driving closer to the top of the two canyons, but again this is something that I've wanted to check out and haven't had the opportunity yet. Just looking at google maps, I think the wall I'm thinking of is the one at these coordinates 38.621296,-110.787189, and I think if you take chute canyon road to it's end it's a pretty easy hike around the butte to get there. Good luck finding any info on it, if it's the wall I'm thinking of it looks good!

The "hundreds of splitter cracks" part doesn't sound right to me. There are a couple of decent looking walls on the back side of the Reef between Bell and LWH, but nothing matching the hyperbole you mention. There are a few decent looking routes near Hidden Splendor Mine not far from there too...but again, no crack paradise. If you really like FAs....then I'd say go for it. But if you're looking for quality routes and cragging, there are much better options in the area. Of course, this is all moot if there are walls I don't know about, with amazing Indian Creek cracks. If so, let us all know!

Josh Ewing wrote:The "hundreds of splitter cracks" part doesn't sound right to me. There are a couple of decent looking walls on the back side of the Reef between Bell and LWH, but nothing matching the hyperbole you mention. There are a few decent looking routes near Hidden Splendor Mine not far from there too...but again, no crack paradise. If you really like FAs....then I'd say go for it. But if you're looking for quality routes and cragging, there are much better options in the area. Of course, this is all moot if there are walls I don't know about, with amazing Indian Creek cracks. If so, let us all know!

Yeah, I'm guessing that the 100's of splitter cracks part is a bit of an exaggeration, the wall I'm thinking of that looks good probably has 10-20 good looking cracks on it if I'm remembering correctly.

replace 'hundreds' with 'thousands' and you've got it right.

Yeah, I've hiked around the Bell/LWH area quite a bit. There are a few great looking unclimbed lines, including some five star 5.13 splitters, but there is nothing resembling a concentrated crag.

The thing that I've found in searching out Wingate is that it's not all created equal in terms of crack formation. Indian Creek is not just super close to easy-access paved roads, its cliffs sit at a precise position in an anticline uplift for optimal splitter concentration. I'm definitely not a geologist, but I think that places like Capitol Reef and the backside of the San Rafael Reef may be too close to the edges of uplifts to have the ordered, concentrated splitters of the Creek.

Camhead nails it. I have seen some promising looking lines in that vicinity, and climbed a bit around Hidden Splendor.
The Hidden Splendor stuff we did was not very good, the Windgate behaved more like Entrada.
On the flip side I have climbed some pretty quality stuff near Turkey Tower.
Also heard a rumor of a bunch of new routes out by the Maze area.
The Best routes I have done in the Swell is the Dylan Wall and vivinity. IC quality with more variety.

We did a route out there on the little island in the mouth of LWH. There are probably 15 or so obvious lines with a variety of sizes. Some of them have an awful coating of dirt/dust. The line we did looked like 5.8 from the ground but was really .10+ with fingers, hands and a little bit of fists. The crux was a spooky tips layaway section with small gear. I think we called it Vivisection because it had a bunch of different styles of climbing and we were out on that remote island. stupid name but who cares anyway.

When I posted it on here the swell was Paul Ross' baby and he kinda told me I was doing it wrong so I left it alone. You can obviously hike to it and driving out there is a bit time consuming. If you had 4-wheelers it would take half the time.

It was early winter and pretty darn cold in the shade so we stayed on the SE wall. Most of the better looking lines were in the permashade for the winter. There were a few but is it worth the drive? Let's just say I keep going to Ibex instead.

Oh, and what Camhead said is super true: but I think that places like Capitol Reef and the backside of the San Rafael Reef may be too close to the edges of uplifts to have the ordered, concentrated splitters of the Creek.

tenesmus wrote:The line looked like 5.8 from the ground but was really .10+...

Classic Tenesmus at it's best.

tenesmus wrote:Some of them have an awful coating of dirt/dust. The line we did looked like 5.8 from the ground but was really .10+...

Classic Swell