Clayton Beach/Larabee State Park

[light]

Does anyone know where to find out the routes and their ratings for bouldering at Clayton Beach/Larabee State Park, or is it pretty much you have to go with someone who knows the area?

[whirlwind]

Its fairly straight forward. there is a "guide" book some place for the area. if you find the sandy beach thats the best place to start, some of the other stuff has potentially hard falls.

 

its not a long hike, using the parking lot as a reference wander south close to the water you'll find the sandy beach, there is various problems along the way. usually lots of chalked up stuff, but i haven't been there in awhile

[kurthicks]

There is a 5.6-7 runout bolted slab at the bolt launch. Be prepared for a ground fall most of the pitch and lots of pine needles. A #1 camalot help reduce the runout between the low bolts. Walk off to the left.

 

There are some fun top ropes along the railroad tracks.

 

There is a 5.10x thin crack somewhere along the beach.

[Jason4]

I've looked for the guidebook but not hard enough to find it but I know my way around the beach pretty well.

 

There are a handful of fun boulder problems in the v2-v3 range and a couple that I've been told are v5s. The otter cave has a v3 and a v5 and the mushroom cave has a v7 with big holds but all the moves are big. The most problems in one spot will be at the firepit with a couple of different traverse variations. Some of the problems are tide dependent so it helps to hit it at low tide. I was down there a lot after work last summer but not much this summer, send me a PM and I can show you around M/W/F after 5pm.

[chris]

You're looking for A Rock Climber's Guide to Bellingham Rock! by Jason Henrie. The Outdoor Center at WWU used to have a reference-only copy.

[genepires]

I've got the guide book that chris is talking about. has 8 pages on larabee park. If there is no longer a copy at WWU OC, then drop me a PM and I will get you a photocopy.

[max]

For the record, there's also "Climber's Guide to Chuckanut Drive", also by Jason Henry, that has ~25 pages on Larrabee. I sent you a PM.