Bouldering near Chicago

Hi everybody, I am 16 and live in the suburbs of Chicago. I am getting into bouldering with some friends after having grown up trad climbing, and was hoping to do some trips in the next couple years. I was wondering if anyone knew of any bouldering within a couple hours of Wheaton, IL. I am open to (and would prefer) camping, and kind of need routes on the lower side of the rating scale. 

Thanks!

We probably can't get anything harder than a V6 (although anything can change!)

Devil's lake and governor's Dodge are the closest good options. There is camping in and around both parks. Slightly closer is some choss outside of starved rock called Lehigh Park on this website. By far the best bouldering imo is at the holy boulders in SoIll but it is a bit of a drive from Chicagoland. There is a really awesome friendly comp there every November, it may have already happened this year though.

Anything else? I think that south would be best, as this trip would most likely be in the spring (don't really want any snow).

Bump (is this how the bump thing works?)

There are other areas in southern Illinois but the holy boulders is probably the densest. There is nothing closer that is south of Chicago (St Louis area has some climbing but it is basically the same distance and probably lower quality). Spend some time on the climbing area map on this website.

Lehigh is the single worst place I have ever climbed. Wouldnt recommend 

Your best bet is to hop in a $100 flight to Vegas for the weekend honestly. Would only be marginally more than driving to some of the mentioned destinations 

ZT G wrote:

Your best bet is to hop in a $100 flight to Vegas for the weekend honestly. Would only be marginally more than driving to some of the mentioned destinations 

Not sure where you are located, but I am guessing that you have no experience with the Holy Boulders, so are unaware of their high quality.

Additionally, even presuming that a group of 16-17 year olds will be 'permitted' ( by their families) to fly unaccompanied to Vegas, they will be too young to be able to rent a car, so would be very limited in what they could do there!!!

Is there camping in the holy boulders? 

https://www.mountainproject.com/area/108116766/holy-boulders

There is no camping at the boulders..

You could always drive to Dixon Springs state park. It’s closer than the Holy Boulders and there’s probably camping there. It’s not super developed but there is a lot of quality rock there right off the park road. Just watch out for all them poisonous snakes!

Edit - noted that the OP was looking for easier routes. Dixon Springs has these in spades.

Dixon Springs is great, and as Mark mentioned, more development is very possible and needed, but it’s definitely not any closer to Chicago than the Holys. However it does have a campground. That said the quality and quantity of problems at the Holys/House boulders vs Dixon is not even close. 

I was probably the first to climb at Dixon Springs back in the mid 1960s. Nice quality sandstone. In the woods nearby are longer faces. There were photos on my dead website that may still be there. No names on most problems, long before the surge in bouldering.

Eli D wrote:

Hi everybody, I am 16 and live in the suburbs of Chicago. I am getting into bouldering with some friends after having grown up trad climbing, and was hoping to do some trips in the next couple years. I was wondering if anyone knew of any bouldering within a couple hours of Wheaton, IL. I am open to (and would prefer) camping, and kind of need routes on the lower side of the rating scale. 

Thanks!

I grew up in West Chicago and started going up to Devils Lake as a teenager. The drive is no big deal and even better if you have friends to split gas.

The bouldering there can be year round if you find sunny and exposed rock. There very high quality problems from V0 - V6

camping has recently gotten a little bit more complicated with the popular climbers campground adding some new rules and upping prices, but there’s good options around Baraboo 

Devils Lake has some amazing bouldering and you will for sure run into other climbers out there! It’s a pretty chill 3hr drive from Chicago and fine for day trips in the winter if you find a sunny spot(east bluff, off the railroad tracks!).

There are some about 15min videos with sets of boulders that are put together nicely. Watch those and it will get you stoked to climb there!

Mark Parrish wrote:

Devils Lake has some amazing bouldering and you will for sure run into other climbers out there! 

Great place! I visited the Lake during 1958-59 driving from Chicago with the U of Chi mountaineering club. The middle of the summer can be slippery, though. Met some interesting people there, like Joe Stettner, Dave Slinger, and my good friend from the university who later became, with his wife, a best-selling NYT author (Judith Michael), Michael Fain, along with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who later became a world famous authority on psychological "flow" (which can be found in climbing).

I can attest that John's 'boulder problems' there--quite a few of which are ( correctly) considered to be routes these days, were ground-breaking for their difficulty and boldness---not only for the 50s!!!!

Alan Rubin wrote:

I can attest that John's 'boulder problems' there--quite a few of which are ( correctly) considered to be routes these days, were ground-breaking for their difficulty and boldness---not only for the 50s!!!!

This is true. Many of Johns problems are still considered classic testpieces today! Along with the routes he did as "boulders" which most do with a rope

Any fun bridges or buildering near Wheaton?