Climbing Near Brainerd, Minnesota

Mill Park was once the location of the Hennepin Paper Company. The mill has burnt down, but bits of it were preserved and built into a park. I just found it and haven't developed many climbs as of yet. It features an abundance of old brick, stone, and arches from the old structure and is located right along the Mississippi river. However, many of these bricks however can be crumbling and/or sharp so be careful with some of the holds. There is also a sort of valley if you walk a little further that is a little overgrown but there is sort of a little path that leads into it. Their walls aren't made of as many sharp bricks but there are still many loose rocks. The walls are also a little taller and better for vertical bouldering than the arches. I find these places a fun place to climb while in central Minnesota since there aren't many options around in our farming lands:) Drive south along Lindberg Dr SW from highway 27 for about .4 miles and the park should be on the left. It is about a 100m walk to the sight

Somewhere on Blue Earth River, Location Unknown "I named this falls anglicized versions of Dakota words meaning, 'water broken to pieces.'" - Andrew Judkins Link to website - internalvistas.blogspot.com… Unknown

Historically, this area has been referred to as the Muskrat Love Area. Folks have been climbing the ledgy faces and slabs here via rock climbing and dry tooling approaches for decades. Earliest known climbing was sometime after World War 2, most likely not really starting until the 1960's. The Muskrat Love Wall has a series of diagonal cracks rising from bottom right to upper left, which cut through the big quarried ledge systems. Several vertical routes ascend the wall cutting through these and, although they are all relatively similar in appearance, have distinctly different character depending on whether you rock climb vs. dry tool them. No to be missed dry tool routes are the line on the far right ascending the arête, sticking mostly to its left face, and the route affectionately referred to as "The Crucifix" - approximately the second from the left bolted route (where a starting move of two opposing side pulls puts you into a crucified position to get up to a drill hole to the upper right. In the mid-point of the first decade of the 21st century, the wall was retrobolted by Mike Endrizzi and friends. This provides an assortment of moderate leads including fixed anchors, which can be carefully accessed from the top via an easy walk up the backside (riverside) of the cliff band, for top roping. Be very careful when leading these routes as there are ample opportunities for ledge-falls should you blow a clip or fall just short of the clip. Therefore, if you are new to leading, know that a 5.8 or 5.9 here has much more dire consequences than on other routes of the same grade ascending smooth, ledgeless faces. When top roping, use quickdraws in the anchors rather than running your rope through the fixed gear so as to reduce their wear and tear. Similarly, when dry tooling, refrain from hooking the fixed anchors, not that you'd ever dream of doing so in the first place. This rarely happens, but it's worth mentioning as the anchors are fixed glue-ins and nearly impossible to replace.