The Promised Land is a canyon cleft in the grassy plains northeast of the city of Prescott (and basically east of Chino Valley). The rock is bullet hard (can be pretty smooth/slick in places) and features hand-friendly holds. This is a sport climbing area, so routes are well bolted. You will likely run into other climbers here, but not too many at one time.
Getting There
Drive north on highway 89 from Prescott, through Chino Valley to Perkinsville Road, then...
Courtesy of BWPete: The Promised Land is somewhat hard to find the first time, as there are many roads which crisscross each other. Heading from Prescott take 89north into chino valley. turn right on perkinsvill road. follow perkinsvill road for a couple of miles till you come to hidden ranch road. there is a large sign out front. turn left. after a short distance the road splits, take the left road and parallel the right fork. when you come to a large area that has an eroded dirt pad with ATV tracks all over it, turn left, and follow that road (trending left) till you come to a white gate. turning right or left after the gate will take you there, but the right hand road is slightly less difficult. park in the flat dirt pad, and walk down the canyon to get to the routes. there is an approach trail marked by cairns, or the impact of just walking in the sandy wash is very low. there is great camping down canyon in the wash, be sure to follow LNT ethics.
Courtesy of Marcy: The hidden ranch road is called "Haystack Road". I drive a Honda CRV (not 4wd) and drove in (at night) turning left after the gate. Had no issues...just a few slow spots and some new desert pinstriping. Drove out in the daytime and, not realizing until reaching the gate, took the alternate road (going out, turning right after the gate, as BWpete describes above). I agree that this road is less difficult and therfore took less travel time from parking lot to gate (also no pinstriping!).
The Classics
Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for The Promised Land:
The promised lands are somewhat hard to find the first time, as there are many roads which crisscross each other. Heading from Prescott take 89north into chino valley. turn right on perkinsvill road. follow perkinsvill road for a couple of miles till you come to hidden ranch road. there is a large sign out front. turn left. after a short distance the road splits, take the left road and parallel the right fork. when you come to a large area that has an eroded dirt pad with ATV tracks all over it, turn left, and follow that road (trending left) till you come to a white gate. turning right or left after the gate will take you there, but the right hand road is slightly less difficult. park in the flat dirt pad, and walk down the canyon to get to the routes. there is an approach trail marked by cairns, or the impact of just walking in the sandy wash is very low. there is great camping down canyon in the wash, be sure to follow LNT ethics
These directions are no longer good as the gate is gone and the area is changing rapidly. "They" appear to be putting in a gas pipeline or something so the way in has changed. I'm terrible with directions so I won't try to tell you the way in, just ask around before you go out.
Since this is a tricky area to find, I thought I would add some detailed directions:
From Chino Valley, turn right (East) onto the signed road for Perkinsville Road. Zero your odometer and follow the below instructions. Keep in mind that these can change and there is more than one route to this climbing area.
After 3.3 miles, the paved road ends. Keep going straight After 4.4 miles, turn left onto the signed junction with Haystack Road. After 5.0 miles, stay left (going right leads into a housing development) After 6.0 miles, stay right and go through an opening in a fence and cattle guard. After 6.5 miles, stay left at the fork. After 6.6 miles, stay right at the fork. After 7.2 miles, stay left and go through an opening in a fence. After 7.4 miles, stay left at the fork. After 7.6 miles, stay left at the fork. After 7.7 miles, stay left again. After 7.9 miles, stay right at the fork. After 8.0 miles, head through an opening in the fence and keep straight. After 8.9 miles, you’ll see a fork with a windmill and water tank on your right, turn left here. The road gets pretty rocky and rutted from this point. A high clearance vehicle is needed. After 10.0 miles, you’ll be able to see the canyon in the distance and a primitive parking area.
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