Cave Creek Rock Climbing

Follow directions for Sam's Throne.  Travelling about 3.4 miles south from Sam's on highway 123 will take you to the drive for Cave Creek on the left (There is a silver "C" painted on a tree next to the pull in). A 4-wheel drive/high clearance vehicle is handy here, or you can park out of the way before the giant mud puddle. Hike down the road and at the open area, head down the hill to the right on a trail.

If your vehicle can make it past the rough stuff, there will be an obvious pull off on the right to park with a fire ring just to the right of the pull off.  the standard downclimb and dogwalk approaches can be accessed by heading just slightly back up the road and to the left (south).

There are two main approaches: the standard downclimb approach and the dog walk approach.  Following the trail mentioned above will lead you downhill about five minutes until you to the top of a huge brain looking rock feature. In between this and the crag line is a chimney/fourth class downclimb that lands you in a tight hallway facing south.  Head down this hallway and you will be spit out between the Gravity Slab and Meltdown areas. Dogs can be taken up and down this if the dog is small enough to be picked up easily, but it is a struggle.  Alternately, when reaching the brain feature, head right (west) to access the dog walk approach.  This approach follows the top of the cliff line for about 10 minutes (leash recommended for dogs) until you hit an obvious water runoff and easy walk down.  You then head back east once you can access the bottom of the cliff line. this marks the western-most part of the climbing, which is the beginning of the Hippie Wall.