BETA PHOTO: Just a shot of one of the boulders at Buffalo Park...
Description
Large city park popular among hikers, mountain bikers, trail runners, kite flyers, etc. Although the bouldering is off the beaten track for non-climbers, lots of Flag locals come here just to get out of the house. Climbers are highly visible. Be cool.
It looks like a big rubble/talus field down there but it's better than it looks. Some airy problems, some silly lowballs, some cracks, some rads, some nice moderates. Landings vary- a pad would be prudent. Rock is coarse basalt.
Getting There
From downtown Flagstaff: San Francisco north to Forest, turn right (east) and continue until just before the bridge. Turn left on Gemini (there will be signage for Buffalo Park). Follow Gemini past the USGS complex to the large parking lot for Buffalo Park. (No parking permit required)
Hike past the huge green tank and pick up an obvious social trail more or less along the fence. Drop down when you hit an opening in the scrubby, broken cliff band and hang a left to the climbing. Approach takes less than 5 minutes.
I don't believe in "secret handshakes" (and anyway, how could you possibly keep the Buffalo Park boulders secret?); I do believe in good juju. The guys down at http://www.boulderingtopo.com are a couple of Flag locals who have worked hard to make some nice PDF guides for areas that previously never had official guides. I never knew of specific problems here til I got their guide, and any problems I'd have put here I'd have thus jacked from them. Not cool. Support small business and make a deposit in the karma bank. Buy the eGuide :)
Buffalo Park is one of Flags hidden gems. Great for keeping conditioned when youre short on time. However the area is getting pretty trashed, those rocks in the pictures aren't supposed to be that white and whats the deal with all the tick marks lately. I'm a chalker so I stand to blame too, but come on wipe off your ticks and pick up your trash. Anyone thats interested I'm going to try to organize a "unofficial" chalk clean up for BP some time in late June or early July. Probably after they close the forests. Anyone interested can E-mail me at Simiancrew@gmail.com. Alright I'm off my soapbox, get out and have fun, enjoy Buffalo Park and the nice weather. Dean
Buffalo Park
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