Safe Harbor Rock Climbing

Please reach out to SCPC in regards to the relationship between climbers and Manor/Conestoga townships. SCPC has worked hard to keep a positive relationship with them and knows about the most current access/crag conditions. Thank you!

The local climbing organization is South Central Pennsylvania Climbers.

The first, biggest, and most important thing right now is that we don’t walk past the Stop Signs that specifically say NO ROCK CLIMBING DURING CONSTRUCTION. These signs are located at the parking lot at 0.0 miles in Manor Township (typically used as the bicycle access point to North) and at the goat path next to the bridge at Safe Harbor Park in Conestoga Township. The signs are there because a construction company is fixing the bridge that joins North and South. This project is a huge benefit to rock climbers, as the completion of the bridge will make the climbing at both sides of Safe Harbor more accessible than it’s ever been. The project has begun and is contractually obligated to finish by November 2021, but both the township and the builders believe it will be finished by October at the latest, if not as early as August. It really just depends on the severity of the winter and how fast they can get it done.

These Stop signs do present a temporary headache for people wishing to climb at Safe Harbor, but there are other places where you can park and access the trail. The best option for climbing at South is to park in Shenk’s Ferry Nature Preserve on Green Hill Road. The dirt road is currently in great shape and can easily and safely be negotiated by any car of any kind. There is parking available there for so, so many vehicles, but as always please be polite and low impact, as we do share the area with other user groups. There is a well-marked trail from the parking to the railroad bed, and from there it is less than a one-mile hike to the main wall at South. If for some reason that area is full, there is additional parking available further down the railroad bed on Colemanville Church Road, which is a spur road off of River Road. The paved lot located at the termination of Colemanville Church Rd can accommodate a bunch of additional vehicles, and although the hike from this lot is a bit long (2.8 miles I think), it can easily be mitigated with a bicycle. 

 As far as North is concerned, I cannot stress enough the importance of not blatantly walking past the Stop signs and climbing. We have a great relationship with Manor Township, and it would be so unfortunate if something were to happen to jeopardize that. The path is closed so that the company fixing the bridge can move their construction vehicles in and out as needed. This company has outlined in the contract that they will be working Monday through Friday only. With this in mind, it is Manor Township’s official unofficial position that we are okay to climb at North on Saturday and Sunday, as long as no construction equipment is present, and we don’t walk past the Stop signs. I was hesitant to even post this because I can see it going awry very quickly, but as of right now, as long as we use common sense and common decency and maintain a very low profile, we are allowed to climb at North on Saturday and Sunday, IF AND ONLY IF we only enter from Chestnut Grove or the Cemetery Wall parking lots. No bikes, no main parking lot under the windmills, NO WEEKDAYS. God help, me please don’t screw this up. It is possible that later, if the project falls behind there could be weekend work and if that happens, we will need to stay away while they do their thing.

See a Bat on a Route, Give Us a Shout! 

Hey climbers, one of our SCPC members is working with Rob Schorr at Colorado State to help him spread the word about his bat research. Here’s a message from him about this important work and how, we as climbers, can help.

"Climbers for Bat Conservation is working with climbers to understand bat ecology and why bats choose certain cracks and flakes. We’re a collaboration between climbers, bat biologists, and land managers to understand where bats roost and where large populations may reside. We are interested in finding bats because of a new disease called white-nose syndrome (whitenosesyndrome.org) which has killed millions of bats in North America. This collaboration has identified bat roosts throughout the U.S., and as far away as Norway and Bulgaria. CBC was developed by biologists who climb and they are advocates for climbing access and bat conservation.

So, if you see bats while climbing, please let us know by emailing us at climbersforbats@colostate.edu, or visiting our website to learn more. climbersforbats.colostate.edu."

Thank You!
Rob Schorr

Zoologist, Colorado Natural Heritage Program (warnercnr.colostate.edu/rschorr/)
Director, Climbers for Bat Conservation
Robert.schorr@colostate.edu