Burnt River Canyon Rock Climbing

The Burnt River runs through a steep, arid canyon with grasslands and scattered juniper on drier slopes and pockets of Douglas-fir on the cooler aspects. The well-maintained county road runs along the river and never sees much traffic. There’s little that attracts recreationists, except small-scale miners and hunters. And a few climbers. It’s a quiet place.

As you’re driving up the Burnt River from Durkee you pass many miles of rock that is prime bighorn sheep habitat but is total crap for climbing -- until you reach the mouth of French Gulch, where clean slabs of limestone suddenly dominate the slopes. This is the start of an east-west oriented exposure of climbable rock that is roughly rectangular in shape, extending 1.25 miles from French Gulch upstream to Cave Wall and about a half mile wide, perfectly bisected lengthwise by the river. This limestone (but see note below) outcrops occasionally in the hills south of the river between here and 1-84 but is well away from the river and not easily accessible.

Geology footnote: As climbers we will always call the Burnt River Canyon a limestone area. Technically, however, if you’re a geologist, the rock we’re climbing is marble. That’s right, instead of being a Sedimentary rock, like nearby limestone in the Wallowa’s or Hells Canyon, this rock is Metamorphic. Apparently, the original sediments were (very slightly?) metamorphosed by pressure and heat, with the limestone crystal structure disappearing and turning into marble. The USGS refers to this formation informally as Nelson marble, named after an exposure south of Durkee at the site of the former Nelson railroad siding/settlement that is now a huge cement plant. 

Climbing:

The climbing terrain consists of scattered limestone buttresses, fins, and spires scattered along either side of the valley. There are a couple of trad routes, but a vast majority are bolted sport climbs. Development started more than 20 years ago and continues today. There are no established boulder problems and bouldering potential appears limited to nonexistent.

The Burnt River road parallels the river in the valley bottom. Approaches from the road are relatively short, most are way less than 30 minutes, although they can be steep. A few crags are best accessed via a river crossing but most are dry approaches from the road. Most routes are less than 30 m, so a 60 m rope will work fine on many of crags. Be aware, however, that some of the newer lines are longer and require a 70 m cord. Difficulty ranges from 5.6 slabs to overhung 5.13. As of May 2023 about 30% of the routes are 5.11 and above and another 35% are 5.10's.

The elevation of Burnt River climbing is 3200 to about 3600 feet. Temperatures can be comfortable for climbing year-round, but summers do get hot. Autumn, winter, and spring are best. However, crags are oriented in all directions so you can find someplace to be comfortable any time of year. This part of the Burnt River valley appears to get little snow and the road is kept open, so warm winter days are not out of the question. 

With a few notable exceptions (such as the Pyramid), the base areas of many crags are often steep and loose. Tough to fit large crowds, in other words. Also, they are difficult landings for climbs with hard starts, so a stick clip can be useful. 

Burnt River climbing has been treated elsewhere, but coverage has been highly selective, is 15-20 years old, and now mostly out of date. Four Burnt River crags are treated in Bolf and Ruef’s 2006 Falcon guide to Oregon rock climbing and there are good topos for several crags in boiseclimbs.com.

Amenities:

There are no amenities in the canyon. In fact, there is nothing in Durkee either, 14 miles downriver at the 1-84 exit. The nearest stores and whatnot are in Baker City (23 miles north on 1-84) or at the truck stop near Huntington (25 miles south on 1-84). There is no potable water in the canyon.

Camping: Within the climbing sector of Burnt River Canyon there is a primo campsite right at the mouth of French Gulch under a beautiful Douglas-fir tree with a babbling creek nearby. But that’s about it. Down river a half mile, around the corner from French Gulch, is a grove of trees that the BLM appears to have made into a small recreation site with a gravel spur road. Lots of room for camping here. Other than that, there are a few other spots scattered up and down the Burnt River to camp. 

The crags are kept very clean. Please take out what you bring in, including toilet paper. 

Safety:

Even though development started more than 20 years ago, Burnt River Canyon has seen relatively little climbing traffic. There are no crowds here, which is cool, but it also means that less-traveled older routes (and new routes, of course) may still have some loose rocks. Be very careful!

There’s a long-standing tradition among some of northeastern Oregon’s prolific route developers to manufacture their own bolt hangers. The practice has been going on for over 30 years and you’ll see them at crags throughout the region. They’re common at the Hells Canyon crags across the Snake River in Idaho, for example. And at crags in the Burnt River Canyon. Some climbers, especially those new to the region, are hesitant to jump on these climbs equipped with hardware of unknown provenance. To aid their risk assessments, route pages have a note if hangers are homemade. Please note, however, that the bolts used to anchor these hangers are of high quality. 

Not really a safety thing, more of a pain-in-the-ass thing, but in summer when the cheatgrass is dried out, the pesky seeds burrow into your socks and boots. Very irritating. This annoying invasive grass is especially thick during wet springs. Gaiters are a worthwhile addition to your kit for dry-season approaches and the base of some south-facing crags.

Rattlesnakes are definitely something to be on the look out for in late spring, summer, and early autumn. 

The nearest hospital is in Baker City.

Access:

The band of limestone that outcrops through this stretch of the Burnt River Canyon is almost entirely on public land managed by the US Bureau of Land Management. Lucky for us. The exceptions are a couple of (undeveloped) crags farthest upriver, past Roadside Wall and mostly on the opposite of the river from the road. They are on private land owned by the Burnt River Irrigation District.

Even though it is BLM land, there are many private mining claims up and down the river. There’s been a long history of placer mining for gold in Burnt River floodplain sediments. Within the climbing sector of the canyon, the most active claim is on the opposite side of the river from the road between Mother’s Day Wall and Riverside Crag, across the footbridge that is access to Hidden Valley. It is still public land and you are allowed to cross claims to get to crags. Most miners are part-timers panning for gold, albeit with generators, pumps, hoses, and big trucks. They’re curious, so be friendly and let them know about the climbing. 

Effects of Fire:

With a name like Burnt you should expect it to burn every now and then. Indeed, since the beginning of white-folk exploration, people traveling through the area have had fire on their minds. French trappers, traveling up the lower river (now along I-84) in the early 19th century, named it Riviere Brûlé – Burnt River - because fire, smoke, and a charred landscape were a constant presence. Many early white explorers and diarists migrating along what is now called the Oregon Trail mention fires and blackened mountainsides, with at least some intentionally set by Native Americans to maintain ecosystem productivity for useful plants and animals. 

Fast forward to the 21st century and move upriver to the climbing crags, the area has already been burned by two big fires: the 104,000-acre Cornet-Windy Ridge Fire in 2015 and massive 294,000-acre Durkee Fire in 2024. Both were started by lightning near Durkee, and both generally burned a lot of the same ground. At a finer scale within the climbing sector, however, the burns were patchy and varied from fire to fire. Some crags, like Hidden Valley, were spared in 2015 but torched in 2024. 

What about the climbing? In both fires, thick stands of mountain mahogany in gullies and at the base of some faces were thoroughly incinerated. Most climbing was unaffected except near these mahogany stands. Flames and super-heated air fried the slabs up 15-25 feet causing the rock’s smooth skin to “blister” and subsequently peel off as small flakes. The South Face of French Gulch Buttress has a lot of this. For the most part, hand and foot holds weren't too affected but be cautious when you see light spots where the thin flakes fell away.