Queen Creek (The Pond)
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| From The Pond (Queen Creek) |
This place is pretty sweet as far as Sport climbs go. There were even a few silly boulder problems you can find if you look around the base of the upper waterfall. I would imagine there are a few more bouldering problems in the summer when you are okay with falling into a pool of water.
Mike climbed three star 5.8 called Dead Pool that is just to the left of the upper water fall, it can be made into a 5.10 if you start at the lower set of bolts instead of the ones on the upper lip. We ended up climbing all over the place the routes go from some short 5.5’s to some long 5.12 they are all well bolted and really fun. We ended up doing 6 different problems a 5.5, 5.8×2, 5.10a, 5.10b, 5.11.
This trip consisted of Jeremy, Mike, Jason and Myself (Dan). It was a good trip, the only thing I would recommend is bringing as little gear as possible on this trip. The approach is a little hairy and the less stuff you have the better. I would even go so far as to break your gear down into multiple bags so someone isn’t stuck with a 80 lbs bag.
Directions:
As far as getting there, You take the 60 out past Superior like you are going to the Mine but you go past Atlantis which is the first parking just to the right of the tunnel as soon as you pass through it. You got past one more parking area on the right side of the road and on your third area you park. There should be the biggest parking area so far and you should see a trash can at the end of a rock outcropping you are going to drive around. If you go to Oak Creek Flats you have gone too far and need to come back. Once you park you are going to walk along the 60. There is a small path next to the guard rails. When you get to the bridge you are going to need to frogger it and haul ass over to the other side and then drop down you should see a pool of water and a bunch of rocks, you are getting warmer. There are two paths one up the right side, one up the left side. The left side is about 3 small bouldering problems and we found it to be easier. Most people will look at it and think Hell No, just be prepared for a little bit of a challenge on this approach. The right side has a ladder but it requires you to hop over the pond. This may be easier when the water level is lower but you’ll have to decide when you get there. Once you get to the upper Pond area you are in for a treat there are tons of routes all over the place and they are so easy to find a blind person could find them.
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| From The Pond (Queen Creek) - Parking Lot |
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| From The Pond (Queen Creek) - Mike on Dead Pool 5.8 R |
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| From Mike showing Dead Pool who’s boss. |
Tags: Outdoor Climbing, Queen Creek, Sport Climbing, The Pond