Beautiful limestone, well protected sport routes with pulling on pockets and edges of mostly high quality rock. Setting is within a beautiful canyon and climbing can be had year around, chasing either the shade or the sun. For the majority of the year, the weather is beautiful (as is common of the desert southwest), with the best time of year being March through May (springtime), and September through November (fall). Floods occasionally drown some of the walls and make some of the climbs inaccessible, this varies by year.
Climbs here are, for the most part, very well protected, and range from 5.6 to 5.13. One can easily push their limits here, and do it safely. A clip stick is helpful for keeping some of the starts safer.
Getting There
First, find Winslow, AZ, east of Flagstaff on Interstate 40. From I-40, take Winslow exit #253 (North Park Drive) and go south. Heading south on North Park Drive, in about a mile you will come upon Second street, turn left (one way going east). After several blocks you will hit a traffic light, turn south here (right) onto highway 87.
Continue south on Highway 87 for roughly 30 miles to mile marker 313.
0.7 miles past this you will see a pull off to the right with a gate, turn right. There is typically a piece of webbing on the gate, use it to open the gate and please close the gate after passing through. There is an obvious sign on the right just after the gate with some climbing stickers on it. This is how you will know you have found the right place. From the gate, continue straight ahead on a good dirt road. You will see a few turn offs along the way (with one large one at about 0.4 miles), just keep straight ahead on the best looking road. Eventually, you will come upon the camping area. There is a large forest service pit toilet here. There are various trails that head from the parking area into the canyon.
Resources
Jacks Canyon Sport Climbing by Deidre Burton and Jim Steagall.
The Classics
Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Jacks Canyon:
The formation at this area forms a shallow book type feature. On your right you will find Big Plans 10a and on your left is Enemy Wind. The route looks innocent enough but is a bit longer and is sustained in steepness. The guidebook warns you to "hold your breath and run for the anchors". Translation...you'll might be gassed but keep going!...[more]Browse More Classics in AZ
On the directions to Jack's Canyon, the pull off for the gate is milepost 313.7 as noted on the map. But because the mileposts from Winslow are descending (starting at about 343), the directions should read: 'Continue south on Highway 87 for roughly 30 miles to mile marker 314
0.3 miles past this you will see a pull off to the right with a gate, turn right.'
Traveling south on Hwy 87 to mile marker 313 takes you .7 miles past the turnoff.
Because most all of the anchors at Jacks are cold shuts it's a must to use quickdraws while TRing and then have the last person rappel rather than lower with the rope threaded through the shuts. (Granted on the steeper climbs it may not be possible to rappel and clean draws but...) Man, we love Jacks!
There is plenty of camping at Jacks, lots of good-sized sites with fire pits about a 5 minute walk from the climbing. There is a pit toilet, but bring your own water and your own firewood; there aren't many trees out there to begin with and what is there has mostly been stripped clean. It can get quite cold after the sun goes down, even when the days are hot, so bring what you need to keep warm. It is very beautiful out there at night, and on some trips I think the time spent around the fire with friends, chatting and looking at the stars, was even better than the climbing.
Oh yeah, the camping is all free.
Classic 12+ routes at Jacks: Unpopular Mechanics, Trick or Tweak, Hooked on Pockets, Huecos Rancheros.
While climbing at Casino Cliff on 10/28, we FOUND a digital camera someone had left the previous afternoon. We were there through the weekend hoping maybe the owners would show up, but they didn't. We would love to return. Contact Ron and Ginger at 775-588-8305
"On the directions to Jack's Canyon, the pull off for the gate is milepost 313.7 as noted on the map. But because the mileposts from Winslow are descending (starting at about 343), the directions should read: 'Continue south on Highway 87 for roughly 30 miles to mile marker 314
0.3 miles past this you will see a pull off to the right with a gate, turn right.'
Traveling south on Hwy 87 to mile marker 313 takes you .7 miles past the turnoff."
The directions as they are given above in the description are wrong. And going down the wrong road can get you screwed, as I found out. There are other turn offs in the area they actually describe that you don't want to go down in anything but a 4x4.
For those of you who want to climb at Jacks, it would be wise for you to invest in the Jacks Canyon guide that Deidre Burton put together. You can visit www.jackscanyon.com to order it. It is well worth the cost, because if you can't locate one route in an area at Jacks - then me telling you that a route is "to the left" or "to the right" of another route is not going to help you. Deidre put out a quality guidebook, and I hope it helps you find your way in the canyon!
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