Climb at Turkey Rocks

Looking for a place to hone your crack climbing technique?  Turkey Rocks is the place with some old school ethics and stiff grades.

Turkey can be accessed from the town of Westcreek north of Woodland Park.  From here, head west on Abbey Road and then south on West Creek Ave.  About a mile down the road you can turn right before a fire station.  This is stump road and turn to Forest Road 360 at a Y down the road. From here the road is usually passable with a high clearance 2WD car, but it can vary greatly depending on the time of year and how recently the road has been maintained.  Follow this road until you come to your first left turn which you can follow for another half mile until the trailhead.

At the trailhead, follow the obvious trail towards the large rock formation.  You are viewing the north side of the rock which contain few classics.  To the far right is considered Turkey Rock north face – some good climbs here are Rastafarian 5.9+ and the sweet finger crack Finger Lickin’ Good 5.10c/d.

As you continue towards the crag you will get to a saddle between the formations where you will then start to descend.  There are sometimes free wag-bags here courtesy of the PPCA and various other organizations.  From here you can head to the left, Turkey Rocks South Face where the majority of classics exist.  These include Southern Comfort, Gobbler’s Grunt and Turkey Shoot – all which tick in at 5.9 and are super stellar 2+ pitch climbs

Going left will bring you to the ultra popular Turkey Perch where 5.8 and 5.7 climbs are the norm.  There will be lots of newer parties here with top ropes so expect this area to be more of a party atmosphere.  All climbs are single pitch and there is a large area to lounge about below.  If your plan is to only hang here for a weekend day, get on these climbs early.

From Turkey Perch, you can head south over a talus field down left to Turkey Tail where you will find much of the tougher climbs. Whimsical Dreams 5.11b, Drumstick Direct 5.10d, In Search of Unicorns 5.11, and Journey to Ixtlan 5.12 are considered some of the classics in this area if you are at the pay grade.