Current Grazing Lease and flagstone quarrying operation MORE INFO >>>
Area is mixed private and BLM Grazing Allotment. Please tread lightly.
This information is a public crowdsourcing effort between the Access Fund,
and Mountain Project. You should confirm closures, restrictions, and/or related dates.
Backcountry pink and grey granite dome with many low angle cracklines. Many routes established by Prescott climbers, though no public topos are known.
Route is South-facing, making it ideal winter climbing.
Getting There
From Rte. 66 head North on Anteres Road, turning right on a dirt road marked 'Upper Music Mountain ...' Drive toward sole pink and grey granite dome on a variety of mild dirt roads. A good parking/camping area is marked by large fire ring on the right side of last leg of dirt road (puts you in a canyon, directly in front of dome). Most of the drive could be made by careful cars, but clearance would be ideal. Drive from Route 66 should be 30-45 min. depending on speed. See Tim Toula's Rock and Road description.
just there November 25th. Climbed a couple of lines. Rock varies from loose and flaky to really nice however the approach and decent are generally sharp and loose if you lose the trail. Expect a variety of rock quality from loose and flaky to beautiful. Mostly slabby. Definitely a back country adventure; watch for snakes.
Keep in mind, this wall is on private ranch land. No idea who owns it now but originally the rancher was ok with letting us climb there as long as:
Don't drive in a night, it spooks his cattle. His cattle are very testy and spook easily. You need to be sure that you do not park between the road in and the water tank (if it is still there) because the cows then won't go to water until you leave.
Oh yeah, last I knew, most of the FAs were done in mid 70s -early 80s by Flag climbers. Baxter and Hardwick did a lot of them. Larry Coats did a few, Jim Haisley and I did one or two but by the time we were climbing there in the late 70s, most of the obvious lines were done.
Nice place, very remote, that road can be totally treacherous if it goes to mud. We barely made it out once after a week of rain during spring break.
If folks are going out there again, someone should look up the rancher and work out a deal. At one time, he even talked about giving us the rock if we'd go down into a snake pit and run a water line out of it. Seriously !
Sorry, but I can't remember any of the names. But they were all typical clever Baxter ones.
I later heard that Rusty and others were going up there in the mid to late 80s ?
If you're looking in that part of the world, don't forget the Hualapi Wall and Dream of White Whales.
I posted this area in hopes of finding partners for N. Arizona adventures. Please let me know if you'd like to check out this wall or others like Hualapai, Walnut Creek, Monument Peak, or others in the area. megmay111@gmail.com
Hey Paul their is a sign in sheet and instructions for use prior to entering the land. Pretty cool to be able to use the area. Rusty is still making trips to the area and expects to be there this spring.
Cool Kevin, good to know. Is there a gate or something now ?
Has Rusty and crew put up a lot of new routes ? I don't really recall the bolting potential but given the rock, I have to think there are many possibilities.
The lower brown wall you walk around actually has a pretty decent pitch right up the middle of it (I think the middle, fairly obvious sort of corner to roofs ?) Bit of tricky pro but that may have changed.
Hiking out the top of the Grand Wash Cliffs is also some really cool stuff. Lots of lithic scatter and quiet, remote country.
And there I was - thinking we were doing first ascents! Cursed Syndicato! They are everywhere (or were).
So Hackberry is being "rediscovered". Great! Amazing thing about trad is how many folks can claim a FA. And it's nice to see some good pro emerging in deathfall spots. Sorry - Ive had enough time in emergency rooms, courtesy of my mountain bike.......
More beta later but Dont worry about trespass. This is a BLM grazing lease. BUT lets be nice to the ranchers who are real nice folks. Good suggestions already here about not freaking cows. You can drop by the ranch house to chat and get the latest info on that Ghost Herd In The Sky. The established campsite seems fine. Enjoy!
Lol, if this is indeed a BLM lease and not private land, then that would explain why the rancher was offering to "give" it to Larry Coats if he would enter the snake den. har har har.
Is that Rusty, as in Baillie, a hoy the old man of the Mountain ?
Hard to tell from those pics Megan. Might be but my recollection (decades old now) is that the Hualapi wall was a bit cleaner but hey... the mind always makes areas better.
Walnut Creek wall looks a bit like that as I recall. Posting higher res images would help a lot.
wallnut creek wall is not worth the effort, IMO. Dream of white wales is a couple of moderate slab moves, to 200 ft of 4th/5th class slab with a one move wonder at the exit. All new bolts, (Ballie I believe).
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