Info on Hunter's Hill near Vallejo

Anyone have any information on the Hunter's Hill crag near Vallejo? I've never heard of it but I just saw a reference to it in Steve Roper's Camp 4 book. I live in Vallejo so I would be very curious to know more about it. Thanks!

Short excerpt from Camp 4 by Steve Roper: "Back in the Bay Area, sometime in the fall of 1945, Salathe showed up at a scheduled Sierra Club Climb at Hunters' Hill, a 150-foot-high formation near Vallejo."

caughtinside wrote:

Its that chossy outcrop across 80 from the 6 flags.  If you look farther down that way you can see a large quarry. 

A long time Bay Area climber told me it was the first place he toproped in the late 80s.  The whole thing is private property/no trespassing.  

I grew up in Vallejo and hiked up there as a kid. The sections we played on were low angle and crumbly but not dissimilar to the rock outcroppings above Blue Rock Spring Park  (You can see the rock quality here https://youtu.be/DRr1XfLsDu4) . We only played on the toe of the obvious outcropping seen from the street below. From looking at Google earth, it does appear that there's a very interesting larger formation just behind and right of that section.  

Times may have changed but back in the early 90s the landowners were not friendly to kid trespassers and though it never happened to me, I heard tales from friends of being chased away by ranchers on horseback carrying guns. (the veracity of said stories should be taken with many grains of salt) Regardless of whether their stories were true, it's def private property. 

Kenneth Rexroth's In The Sierra, Mountain Writings book indicated that the Sierra Club would bring climbing classes to Hunter Hill in the late 1930s  (p196)

It's also mentioned in Joseph Taylor's Pilgrims of the Vertical as part of the 1930s climbing sites and transportation systems map

Here's all of the other forums that hosted conversation regarding the area. 

https://rockclimbing.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2461466;search_string=hunter%20hill;#2461466

https://www.rockclimbing.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1197488;search_string=vallejo;#1197488

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=1009338&msg=1009433#msg1009433 

Which has the following tidbit from Peter Haan 

Peter Haan

Trad climber

San Francisco, CA

Nov 12, 2009 - 04:14pm

There is a volcanic outcropping before Suisun after the Carquinez bridges and Vallejo that was a reasonably frequented area back in the early sixties. It is called Hunter's Hill although that name will not search out for you.

It is NE of the intersection of Hwy 80 and Hwy 37-Columbus Parkway and has coordinates of: 38 deg 08' 46.43" N 122 deg 12' 18.99" W. On googleearth it is hideous and inconspicuous. It is on open grassland. We used to just go over the fence and hike up to the 60 or so face. There are a few routes on it; it is steep to overhanging. A giant owl used to hang out in a cave just below the summit. This area is loose and to tell you the truth, a guy was killed doing an existing aid route there back in about 1961 or so. Guido here remembers the details. He dislodged a large flake that went for his midsection and the guy died of massive internal hemorrhaging. I think there is a sub-area too. It ain't pretty but it is close to you, no one will ever be climbing there probably besides your group and of course you could top rope it. As rock quality goes, I would rate it 3 on a scale of 10 being best. Maysho Peter Mayfield has called it "groady" in recent posts.

Awesome, thanks for all the info! I'm actually not surprised to hear where it is. I've seen that spot many times and actually ran up in that area once. There's good access on the south side of the rocks that seems very legal (unlocked gate, trails with benches, lack of trespassing signs), but then there's a fence line near the top of the ridge where the rocks are. Maybe I'll check it out closer sometime without actually hopping fences.

I went up there to climb a few times back in the day. The rock is total shit but climbable. There are a few routes on it from 5.5 to pretty hard. Some ancient bolts on it with a few newer looking ones. The bouldering around the base has some good problems. Problem is, it’s on privet property, and the owners do not want people on it. Last time I was there, I got chased off by some guy on a quad and met by a Sheriff Officer when I got back to my truck. I didn’t get a fine, but easily could have. Not worth it IMO. 

I can appreciate the land owner's position. They would have to be either insane or completely negligent to allow anyone on their property for pretty much anything. But allowing climbing is just inviting lawsuits and financial ruin. Plus Vallejo creeps ever closer.

I found a ring piton still solid up there once.

there are some old posts by k ariza which stated the landowner escorted him out with a shotgun

Cherokee Nunes wrote:

I can appreciate the land owner's position. They would have to be either insane or completely negligent to allow anyone on their property for pretty much anything. But allowing climbing is just inviting lawsuits and financial ruin. Plus Vallejo creeps ever closer.

Recreational Use would say differently 

https://www.accessfund.org/newsletters/0063_VT_Winter_vLR.pdf