Winslow to Phoenix

If Flagstaff’s claim to fame is a name-check in “Route 66” then it’s near neighbour to the east, Winslow, can thank The Eagles for its notoriety (and perhaps its continued existence!). It’s also home to some pretty decent climbing. Jack’s Canyon, about half an hour south of town, is a hidden gem. Literally hidden as you drive through endless flat, country and turn off on a dirt road (more in hope than expectation) and after a mile or so end up at the promised primitive campground (thank you US Forestry Service!) and walk a few tens of metres to stick your head over the top of a deep, sinuous canyon.

A straightforward descent brings you to the rightmost Casino sector (morning sun) and the closest approximation to limestone “Euro-cragging” that we’ve found on this trip. By way of orientation, the parking / campground is pretty much on top of the Main Wall, and in the shot below looking down into the canyon you can see Casino on the right, Swiss Wall on the left and beyond that, tucked around a corner, is Cracker Jack.

Here’s Helen getting a feel for the rock on Gumby…

… and I Am Pokey, 5.8, both on Casino Cliffs.

Over on Main Wall most of action is in the 12s, with fiercely undercut starts being the norm, but a couple of easier 4* routes stand out, with Genesis, 10d…

… and Sacrificial Lizard, 11b, both being outstanding. I later discovered that these were the two first routes ever put in the area – someone had an eye for a line!

Not a bad place for a sunset.

With a bit of a breeze blowing up the canyon the following morning we thought we’d risk venturing into the sun on the Cracker Jack sector.

That idea was quickly dispelled with a scorching ascent of the ironically named Big Plans, 5.9/10a – my big plans for the adjacent 4* 11c, Enemy Wind were definitely not on the agenda.

Instead we fled for the shade of Swiss Wall – not only is it plastered in holes but some of the rock is distinctly cheesy (grated parmigiana?), however Yarlsberg (sic) and Karlsberg are both fun 10as if a bit sandy. Red Wall with bolts?

By now the more solid Casino Cliffs were in the shade. Sports Book is just what it suggests – a well-bolted 10b corner crack – naughty but nice. The neighbouring Crack Dealer, 11b, has a vicious start on crimpy lay aways before mellowing. Further right, and keeping with the gambling theme, Helen chanced her arm and came away with A Fist Full of Dollars, 10a. Time to quit whilst we were ahead!

About an hour east of Winslow is Petrified Forest National Park – well worth a rest-day excursion. The Park is set in the magnificent Painted Desert…

… with hazy views as far as the San Francisco Peaks about a hundred miles away.

Worthy of NP status in their own rights, the striated coloured cliffs, dunes and mesas only serve as a backdrop for the stars of the show – the extraordinary tree fossils of the Petrified Forest.

A mind-boggling two hundred million years ago (in the Triassic, when dinosaurs roamed the earth) these huge trees were knocked over and buried by river sediment, and so preserved from biological degradation whilst the eons-long chemical process slowly infused silica from volcanic ash which crystallised into quartz.

The fossilisation is uncanny, and it’s not until you actually touch the trees that you’re truly convinced they’re stone not wood.

The illusion is amplified by the neat “logging” of most of the trees, which have fractured under their own weight; the bark-like structure of the outer layer; and the wood-like colouration…

… though look more closely and some of the fossils are picked up in a rainbow of crystal colours.

Of course, no rest day is complete without a Brewery visit, and the Relic Road on the old Route 66 in Winslow came highly recommend.

Parking the RV around the back, we were quite surprised to find ourselves on THE corner in Winslow Arizona…

Take it Easy!

The beer’s not bad either!

We’d hoped to visit Winslow Wall on our way further south, a deep ravine in East Clear Creek with around a hundred sandstone routes reportedly comparable in quality to Red Rocks. Sadly we judged the dirt road for the last mile and a half to be a bit too risky – not wanting to end up in sand up to our axles. Instead we programmed Christopher Creek into the sat nav – a further hour along the road to Phoenix. This is a recently discovered spot, with development of the quartzite canyon still very much ongoing. The USP is the potential for shady summer climbing with the option of plunge pools between routes – no surprise that one of the sectors is named Eden. As we weren’t chasing shade (fussy these climbers!) we just did a couple of routes on the Upper Exit Gorge, the top of which is visible from the parking: Master Splinter, 5.8 and Apapacho, 10c. Good rather than great, but the canyon would be well worth exploring on a summer visit.

More tranquil free camping by Roosevelt Lake…

… followed by a drop in to Tonto National Monument to admire the 800 years old cliff dwellings of the Solado people…

… and catch our first sight of the iconic Saguaro. We must be almost at Phoenix!

Queen Creek Canyon is a huge slot carved through an impressive landscape of towers, pinnacles and walls of welded tuff (solidified volcanic ash) and features well over a thousand routes, making it central Arizona’s premier climbing destination. Unfortunately, the canyon also hosts the Route 60, which means that much of the most accessible climbing is not the wilderness experience that we’ve come to cherish during the rest of the trip. The Pond is perhaps the most famous area, easily visible immediately above the highway – you can just about make out a climber top-roping the QC classic Pocket Puzzle in the shots below.

Whilst only a couple of hundred metres from the RV…

… it’s quite a traipse to get up to the routes, dodging speeding trucks as you cross the road (or engaging Troll mode beneath the bridge) and finding the winding path up through huge boulders, with the assistance of a few iron rungs, then around a couple of ponds. Worth it when you get there – The rock quality is tremendous on these well-travelled routes, with a bullet-hard surface peppered with pockets and edges galore. Here’s the view of the block seen from the parking, with the overhanging face on the left taken by Pocket Puzzle (which I repeated despite having done it in 2015 – fab route and not a very sensible warmup!) and Pocket Party, 10b, around to the right.

Helen was much wiser, warming up on the equally outstanding but easier-angled Pocket Warmer, 5.6.

The following day we explored a couple of sectors beneath the road. The newly developed Old Tunnel Area…

… looks appealing on Mountain Project, with a good smattering of stars, but that was a useful reminder to check how many ascents make up the consensus – most only having a handful of ticks (perhaps the enthusiasm of the first ascent teams and their mates!)

Unknown 2 a.k.a. Craig’s Come Over, 10b, is a really long line up an impressive tower, but turned out to be a moderately harrowing 120ft voyage of trepidation – no desperate moves, but barely a hold that didn’t rattle when tapped, and 10ft or so between bolts before a final 30ft runout on “easier” ground!