Jacob Hamblin Rope Length?

Kingtriton10

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Hello All!

I plan on taking the wife down to Coyote Gulch this spring and was wondering if anyone knew the length of rope needed to ascend Jacob Hamblin. I want to start from the Crack in the Wall and exit Jacob Hamblin. She isn't a great climber so I was wanting to give her an edge. Thanks
 
Hello All!

I plan on taking the wife down to Coyote Gulch this spring and was wondering if anyone knew the length of rope needed to ascend Jacob Hamblin. I want to start from the Crack in the Wall and exit Jacob Hamblin. She isn't a great climber so I was wanting to give her an edge. Thanks
its technically non technical, its just a really long stretch of class four according to what ive seen, however its steep class four. No anchors of any kind, so rope probably would be like a mountaineering short rope, not very useful unless you have perfect circumstances. Others can probably chime in better than me though, so ill let them explain.
 
When we did it, we used a 50 foot length of rope to haul packs and as a safety line for my wife as she climbed up. I just free-climbed it with no problems, but I did haul my pack with the rope. It took multiple "pitches" to get up the climb.

We also pretty much destroyed our packs by dragging them up the slickrock. I don't really know how to avoid that. Either take cheap packs or put them inside duffel bags or something to protect them while hauling.

Or, if you have more confidence than I did, you can try wearing the pack while you're climbing.
 
You don't mention if this is to be a day hike, or overnighter....
Similarly, while my wife is good at scrambling up stuff, exposure can make her freeze up at times.
With that in mind, when we day hiked Coyote, we left 40 Mile trailhead at 8 am after deciding not to attempt the Jacob Hamblin exit.
As it turned out- with so much to take in along the way, plus a side excursion to the Escalante confluence first, we only made it as far as Coyote bridge by our predetermined turn around time of 3'ish. With more dawdling on the way back- it was pretty much dark when we got back to 40 Mile. This was in October however, with less daylight hours than in springtime. We both agreed that we were glad that we hadn't been set on the JH exit, making for a more relaxed day to savour the incredible ambience of Coyote, without the stress of worrying about the JH exit. This coming fall we are heading back, but are planning on staying at least one night.
 
geez, that picture makes me shudder as an intrepid canyoneer! :confused:
 
Im with Brendan, going from hurricane is not as bad as people make it sound and you see wicked cool stuff. When I did it from hurricane got to the last major cool spot before the Escalante River (the arch [cliff arch?] east of JHA) and that was an overnighter. If you added a day, you can very easily reach the confluence and back without breaking a sweat.
 
I've done both: exited out JHA and exited by hiking up Hurricane, finding an exit from Hurricane, and hiking up 40 Mile Ridge back to the car. I would agree that the exit from Hurricane was less worrisome...and didn't destroy two packs. It was certainly a slog, and you wouldn't want to do it when it's hot, but it was less stressful, for sure.
 
It's a pretty personal question. I scouted it up and down w/o a pack just to find/learn it and I found it to be relatively steep Class 4 friction at the most. If you are comfortable with that then it would be easy to belay your wife up. 50 feet of rope is plenty. Probably need to climb it, drop your pack, descend packless and then climb again with her pack. My footwear was Scarpa Guides with good feel and friction rubber. They make a difference for sure.
I found the route north over the crown of the JHA itself to be a bit steeper and tougher.
https://backcountrypost.com/threads...ld-bobway-coyote-gulch-april-25-30-2015.4703/
Oh, the better pics are here:
http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8016013
 
A round trip via crack in the wall (crack in the wall to the arch and back) is perfectly reasonable for a one-night trip. If you can't do that in one night, it's probably not a good idea to be scrambling up the JHA exit anyhow.

Oh, if you have medium or large size packs, bring 30 feet of cord or rope to lower your packs down Crack in the Wall - otherwise you'll cause a traffic jam while you try to convince your pack to fit thru there. One other pro-tip - the springs maybe a mile (if memory serves) above the turnoff to crack in the wall, on the north side of the canyon, are absolutely amazing. Cold, clear, refreshing, dripping down the rock. Some of the best water found anywhere in canyon country. Enjoy!
 
Guys...how is it exiting via the Crack? Possible to do with a pack and going solo?

If you're exiting at the crack solo you'll have a little more difficulty since you can't just lower your pack and go on through. Bring a 50 foot length of paracord and tie a rock around one end and toss it up to the lower ledge between the two parts of the crack. You can walk your pack through the upper section. The lower ledge is only 15-20 feet up from where you'll pull your pack from - much easier than the upper ledge most people use. Be careful not to let your cord rub grooves in the rock like so many others have done. If you're not sure where to toss the rock, shimmy through the crack and lower your rope first. Maybe you can jam it in a crack or tie it to something to keep it from falling down while you go back down to tie up the pack.
 
Just for anyone referencing this in the future, thought I'd share this from this weekend for anyone considering this route. I did a loop starting/ending at the 40 mile ridge/Crack TH and as I got closer to the parking area (I actually came out 40 mile so I was coming from the south) a guy approached me rather frantically asking if I had a car there. Long story short, his party (wife, 2.5ish year old daughter, and bro in law) had gone down the Hamblin route without issue, spent the night, and his got freaked out on the way out and couldn't do it. They ended up going all the way down and out the Crack route, were out of water and all of them were in really bad shape (wife was laying under a truck in the parking lot when I got there, daughter and bro in law had started walking towards the tank TH but didn't make it far and were just sittin by a bush). Gave the dude a lift to their vehicle and all ended well but could have been really bad.

Anyway, it's not a particularly hard route but it is pretty exposed and if you don't feel good about it do one of the other routes and be prepared. Seems it's always the popular spots that people get in trouble (Wave, Grand Canyon, etc). Be safe out there.
 
Just for anyone referencing this in the future, thought I'd share this from this weekend for anyone considering this route. I did a loop starting/ending at the 40 mile ridge/Crack TH and as I got closer to the parking area (I actually came out 40 mile so I was coming from the south) a guy approached me rather frantically asking if I had a car there. Long story short, his party (wife, 2.5ish year old daughter, and bro in law) had gone down the Hamblin route without issue, spent the night, and his got freaked out on the way out and couldn't do it. They ended up going all the way down and out the Crack route, were out of water and all of them were in really bad shape (wife was laying under a truck in the parking lot when I got there, daughter and bro in law had started walking towards the tank TH but didn't make it far and were just sittin by a bush). Gave the dude a lift to their vehicle and all ended well but could have been really bad.

Anyway, it's not a particularly hard route but it is pretty exposed and if you don't feel good about it do one of the other routes and be prepared. Seems it's always the popular spots that people get in trouble (Wave, Grand Canyon, etc). Be safe out there.

Something casual for someone versed in desert travel can, and will freak out a seasoned hiker. 4th class terrain should not be taken lightly. If the person doesn't know what that entails, they need to be introduced in a less committed fashion.

I think it's easy to view this as a "shortcut." In canyon country there are no shortcuts, they always come with a giant asterisk.

Thanks for sharing you story about what happened. I read a report of seeing 70+ cars at the 40 mile TH this past weekend. I hope all those people wrote Zinke.
 
Just for anyone referencing this in the future, thought I'd share this from this weekend for anyone considering this route. I did a loop starting/ending at the 40 mile ridge/Crack TH and as I got closer to the parking area (I actually came out 40 mile so I was coming from the south) a guy approached me rather frantically asking if I had a car there. Long story short, his party (wife, 2.5ish year old daughter, and bro in law) had gone down the Hamblin route without issue, spent the night, and his got freaked out on the way out and couldn't do it. They ended up going all the way down and out the Crack route, were out of water and all of them were in really bad shape (wife was laying under a truck in the parking lot when I got there, daughter and bro in law had started walking towards the tank TH but didn't make it far and were just sittin by a bush). Gave the dude a lift to their vehicle and all ended well but could have been really bad.

Anyway, it's not a particularly hard route but it is pretty exposed and if you don't feel good about it do one of the other routes and be prepared. Seems it's always the popular spots that people get in trouble (Wave, Grand Canyon, etc). Be safe out there.

I can't even fathom taking a 2.5 year old kid down the JHA scramble. I don't believe in keeping kids in a bubble by any stretch, but I think a lot of parents go the other way.
 
I just got back from a trip to Coyote Gulch, using the Jacob Hamblin entrance/exit. While it is definitely no joke, it wasn't quite so scary once we were there. Sometimes photos look more dramatic. For reference, I am a mom that was traveling solo with two kids, ages 9 and 11. We had no problem doing this route and myself and my 11 year old did it easily without rope. It was nice to have it there, however. My 9 year old needed the rope for reassurance. For those with kids, please note that my kids are quite sporty and are seasoned backpackers/adventurers for their age. Most reasonably brave and fit kids of their age could do this route but have a backup plan, just in case. My backup plan was to simply retreat back to the car and camp on BLM land.

You should take 100' of rope. We only had 60', as recommended by a guide we met in Escalante, but found that it was well short of what we needed. Luckily there was a rope already there. The bigger problem was our packs since we spent two nights down there. We really did a number on them hauling them up and down. And because it's not a drop, we had to scramble down and get them unstuck from ledges, etc. We found that part the most challenging because it did mean that I had to climb up and down several times to get the packs unstuck. Our packs were too heavy to wear while going up or down this route. My takeaway? If you are day hiking with small packs and are reasonably fit and adventurous, you should have no problem with this route but do take rope. If you are spending the night and have heavy packs, go in a different route or factor in extra time for hauling them up and down. And bring duct tape, which I always have on me for backcountry trips, and came in handy for repairing one of the packs that ripped. Also from the parking area to the drop in is NOT as well marked as you would hope. Only parts of it are well marked. It is fairly easy with a compass since it is due north, just don't leave home without one. Turn around and go back to town if you do not have a compass.
 
+1 to the above. That said, I think a 50ft rope would suffice "if you really feel the need for it". I climbed it without a rope using only 1 hand and a 30lb backpack (I had to carry a rope in my other hand for my wife on the way up). I have no climbing experience and had not trouble at all. That said, my quads were burning after the climb up!!
 
I see that you had a lovely idea that inspired me to do the same this summer. It will be a very significant trip and experience. I am sure that my wife will be delighted with this idea. I don't know a lot about such ropes, but I can say that the strongest one I found on https://www.growgardener.com/best-rope-for-tree-swing/. I've ordered it to make a swing for my kids during the pandemic period. They were unfortunate and bored while staying all day at home. So I've decided to make their life a little bit interested.
 
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