Greg Wall on Blueberry Hill.		Ownership/Management: United States Forest Service, Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest. Land Manager: John Vanderheyden, acting District Ranger Darrington Ranger District 1405 Emmens St. Darrington, WA 98241 (360) 436-1155 Current status: All areas are currently open. Access considerations: Three O'Clock Rock, The Comb, Green Giant Buttress, and Squire Creek Wall all lie within the Boulder River Wilderness. Power drills are prohibited in designated wilderness areas. Only Three O'Clock Rock has a maintained trail. Please don't block the road when you park. Other resources: Weather forecast WCC Area Contact: Matt Perkins. For discussion: Jump to discussion forum
In addition to climbing, the area contains a popular hiking trail over Squire Creek Pass (well worth it!), old mines and mining relics for the curious, and a variety of scenic waterfalls. Camping is found in the Clear Creek valley as well as at the Clear Creek Campground on the Mountain Loop Highway roughly two miles southeast of Darrington, Washington WCC installation crew in front of the new kiosk.		The climbing area known as Darrington lies in the Clear Creek and Copper Creek drainages, south of Darrington, Washington. The area is both rugged and remote, and approaches can involve moderate bushwacking or scrambling. The exfoliating granite domes tend toward lower angle climbing, with slabs and knobby faces predominanting. Most climbs are in the three-to-eight pitch range, with descents by rappel. Route grades generally range from 5.7 to 5.11. Many of the climbs reach a "summit" that is high above the surrounding valleys, thus giving them a sub-alpine feel. The season usually runs from April to October. The area was mined just before the end of the 19th century. The approach to one of Darrington's most famous climbs, Dreamer (5.9, 10 pitches), follows an old mining road and passes right through the old mining camp. The area was logged after World War II and a logging road was built far into the Clear Creek valley. This brought climbers to the area in the late 1960s. Fred Beckey put up Witchdoctor Wall, a grade V climb on Exfoliaton Dome, in 1969. By the end of the 1970s, the area had dozens of routes from one to ten pitches. There has been steady (but never overwhelming) climbing activity ever since. As recently as a few years ago, the Forest Service was proposing to gate the roads to Exfoliation Dome and Green Giant Buttress (Dreamer). In addition, the trail to Three O'Clock Rock had all but disappeared where it approaches the crag. However, climbers wrote letters objecting to the road closures and voicing an active interest in working with the Forest Service to keep the area open. The Forest Service backed off its proposal. Despite this success, it appears that maintenance of the Clear Creek Road will be a continuing issue. This is critical, since the road provides access to all the primary Darrington crags. A large flood damaged the the road in November 2003, although the Forest Service fixed it immediately afterward. In July 2004, the Forest Service re-graded the road as far up as the Eightmile Creek trailhead. More flood damage in early 2005 caused the Forest Service to blockade the entire Clear Creek road without public notice. A WCC letter-writing camgain convinced the Forest Service to repair and re-open the road. You can read more about the effort here. Future maintenance remains uncertain. Even with the recent repairs, the two-mile extension beyond Three O'Clock Rock to the trailhead for Dreamer is being reclaimed by the forest. The one-and-a-half mile side-spur leading to Exfoliation Dome is not far behind. Both are still passable right now, but the Forest Service says it has no budget for further maintenance and no plans to maintain either of these sections. Even with these road issues, climbers have generally enjoyed good relations with the Forest Service and other area users in Darrington. There have been few climbing accidents and virtually no noted concerns about endangered plants, wildlife, or other environmental issues. The Forest Service has expressed concern with user-built trails and climbers have been asked not to construct their own access routes. In addition, power drills are forbidden on crags that lie within the Boulder River Wilderness. Using power drills at these crags could net you a fine and create an access issue. Finally, keeping our visual impact low is important in a wilderness setting; we hope climbers won't leave behind brightly colored rappel slings. Climbers have been active stewards of the area. In 2000 and 2001, the Access Fund, The North Face, and the Washington Trails Association (WTA) sponsored work parties on the Squire Creek Pass trail (which leads to Three O'Clock Rock). The trail is vastly improved as a result, although it is still slightly rocky and can be muddy in the first quarter mile or so. More recently, in June 2005 the WCC built an information kiosk at the Squire Creek Pass trailhead. A partial guide to the area can be viewed here: Darrington Web Page