Murder Creek Climbing

Don't worry, it's not as ominous a place as the name would imply, but if you believe the story it has an ominous past. Murder Creek is a small bouldering area in Middle Ga. It's in the Cedar Creek WMA so there are no real access issues. It consists of a few boulders spread along the banks of the creek. It's actually a pretty nice little spot. There are some rapids there and some small falls and the creek is quite wide. The boulders are right down by the water. There are only a few routes and not much info out on the web. The tallest section, the Cave Wall probably goes about 18ft or so. It's not a destination but if you are in the area it's worth checking out and at least giving the Cave Wall a try. I don't have any FA info or climbing history but I imagine everything that is climbable has been climbed.

So how did it get the name? The story I found says basically that in the late 1700's a small party led by a Colonel where traveling to Pensacola. They encamped near the creek and it just so happened that a unsavory band consisting of (and I'm not making this up) three men nicknamed Man-Slayer, The Cat, and Bloodthirsty Bob by the local Creek indians were camping on the other side of the creek. Clearly choosing a good camp site is key to a great outing. In the middle of the night the three snuck over, killed the sleeping group and robbed them. When the whole thing became known they went out looking for the killers. They caught The Cat and brought him back to the site of the murder. There they supposedly hung him on a tree that still had blood stains from their previous act. And hence, as best as I can tell, is how the creek got named Murder Creek.