Mill Creek

Mill Creek Canyon is indeed a beautiful and special place to climb, however it is worth the while to consider a few important traits of the area before setting out on a visit to MCC.

On an access and conservation note: And these are absolutes... PLEASE drive the speed limit or slower and park carefully and considerately in MCC. This may mean you'll need to walk a bit, but the land manager has concerns about speeding and parking. DO NOT S*&T IN THE CANYON! Walk the 5 minutes up to the road and care for waste disposal in a environmentally friendly fashion!

Climbing: It is wise to understand before going to MCC that it is not in entirety a sport crag - especially in the common (ie. Rifle, Red Rocks) definition of the term (more like Smith's older routes or Tuolome -sp?). Though there are "sport routes" in MCC, more often than not the routes tend to be "sporty" to "run out" - many sport climbers consider routes at MCC to border on terrifying and there are some routes w/ ground fall potential; most have long fall potential, so know before you go. All but about 5 routes in the canyon are accessible from the top and can be previewed or climbed on TR (bring a length of rope to access the anchors from trees). If you can not see bolts all the way to the top of a route, do not assume that they exist, and top rope if you are unsure of your ability or the presence of gear.

It is also wise to carry a small rack to many of the routes as quite a few are "old school", bolts where you need 'em, gear supplementing. In addition, many routes in MCC are harder than they appear (bouldery technical cruxes), so again, if you are unsure, TR. In general, MCC is not a super area for beginners - like most of the dez, for what ever reason, life tends to begin at 5.10 and the easier routes tend to be more run than the harder routes (13a and up). But if you are keen on "adventure sport climbing" do come and give it a try! The area described above is known as "The Wicked Crag" and has some of MCC's finest hard routes.

Season: April/May-Oct./Nov.

Enjoy, but be safe and conscientious Lisa

There is now an outhouse located in thefield about 250 feet north of the Geyser Passturnoff.

Use It!

Hey Josh. Mill Creek is an amazing area and an absolute gem. I understand you wanting to keep it that way but it seems almost malicious to give vague directions to the place. There's nothing cool about starting someone's trip by getting them lost. Mountain Project is about an open forum of climbers helping climbers and why would you even create this post if it withholds directions, places to camp, facilities, ect. My thanks goes to Aimee Rose and Richard Magill for helping to bridge the information gap.

Will,
Keep an open mind and a sense of adventure and millcreek will deliver some of the best climbing experiences of your life.
-brendan

Will,

I'm sorry you're disappointed that my description for Mill Creek doesn't live up to the standards of my other contributions to Mountain Project, but I'm not going to change it and here's why:

First, I should note that I'm not the one who submitted the Mill Creek area - it was a terrible one line description which I adopted in order to actually improve upon. After discussion with locals and other admin-type folks on the site, rather than spell out every detail of Mill Creek, I chose to instead attempt to create something more balanced that would uphold the tradition of the area.

That tradition harkens back to respecting an area and the style in which it was developed, right back to Royal Robbins' vision of climbing during the "golden age" in the Valley. In much the same way you wouldn't retro bolt a classic trad line, spelling out directions to every route in Mill Creek would be a real shame. Rather than call me malicious, you could have contacted me (or anyone else who's climbed there) and asked for more info (as someone did just last week as a matter of fact), which perhaps I could have provided.

As Brendan said, keeping an open mind and sense of adventure and investing a little time and energy in exploring this area will pay back in spades. Spend a rest day hiking from the Wicked Crag out the mouth of the canyon (wear Carharts, trust me), talk to the locals, read the stories in the old mags... I guarantee you'll get a lot more out of the experience. If this isn't your thing, don't worry, the climbing isn't so mindblowing that you're missing out on much - go to Rifle, the climbing is way better, it's closer to Boulder, and you won't have to waste one bit of precious redpointing energy on finding your route.

Best regards and good luck on Tiki Man!

Actually, I am the original poster of the terrible description for how to get to Mill Creek. I felt the terrible description was sufficient- Tod Anderson and I went on a 4 day trip to find this place armed with nothing more than a name, a map, and a photo.

We just looked at where a road (LaSal loop road) intersected the creek and guessed that would be starting point. Turns it we were right.

So if we could find it with that, I figured others could with my limited directions.

I posted this hoping that some locals would get interested in building some on-line topos, but so far they seem to be sticking to the "secret area" thing. This is an awesome, well-developed, and highly photographed area and I don't think it is that much of a secret - but oh well.

I have probably done 3 dozen routes here but I suspect that there are several hundred routes in this canyon - only the locals really know!

So yes, all you can do is wing it and have fun. It is sort of "adventure" sport climbing since you won't know where the routes are, how hard they are, or how well-protected they are until you get on them. Which is fun if you like that sort of thing!