The Twilight Zone Rock Climbing

A scant 5 miles north of Beacon Rock will afford you amazing views of the North side of Hood, the Columbia River, the top of Beacon Rock 5 miles below and a good stretch of the Gorge are all seen from the base of this south facing cliff. If it's not raining or cloudy of course:-) This was another cliff Jim Opdycke, along with his buddy Mike Janick, found.

There is some great andesite rock and some obvious marginal broken looking rock. Pick what ya want to get on. Show up and play pick a line or additional info and the list of routes can be found in "Northwest Oregon Rock", which is the new 2012 companion guidebook to Portland Rock Climbs both by Tim Olsen. http://www.northwestoregonrock.com/.

Bolts, boltless routes, gardening, ground up or topdown with toprope rehearsal is all good here and there is no "prevailing ethic" or other craziness. It is the hope that community harmony and helpfulness directed from and towards all will be the prevailing ethic and that the golden rule is remembered: that is, do unto others before they do it to you.  Just do the right thing, have fun and stay safe. There is a series of cautions which should follow. As the area is situated at @2800" elevation, there is no Poison Oak to deal with (yeahhh!) , however, care should be taken towards the wildlife. There are bear and cougar which roam the area, however, perhaps more deadly is the mountain yellow jackets which just show up where ever the hell they want and are especially territorial in the late fall. Care when lifting loose rocks when cleaning routes to avoid the numerous scorpions is of lesser concern. Scorpion stings are significantly less serious than the wasps, despite what late night science fiction television writers would have you believe, and as you are a million times larger and scary to them they'll try and avoid you just like their many brothers and sisters which live at Beacon that nobody ever sees.  Another  serious objective hazard is potential pickup or logging truck collisions and the regularly scheduled road washouts. Driving with a window down at a reasonable speed with the radio turned off and listening intently for the next pickup full of hunters coming your way is a good idea. Late fall is hunting season, and not necessarily here as it's rocky and not favorable to wildlife, but the surrounding area of these woods are full of armed men trying to pop a cap on Bambi's ass and looking to fill their freezer.  Of course it's recommended that you check the internet for hunting dates, wear hunter orange if appropriate, and NOT wear natural and muted colors top ping off that ensemble with the deer hat your spouse bought you as a joke (the one with the horns).

A note on ratings, change them if you wish. A note on bolts, change them if you wish. A note on the trail, change it if you wish.

On hot days, head towards the east, at the 2nd Maple tree clump @ 300' below the Conga Line start as a rock would fall, is the magnificent year round Silverman Spring which runs cold, clear and sweet. There is room for many more routes if anyone is into that. Certainly the fun and airy ridge climb on the far side called Conga Line is worth a lap.