Morning to midday sun and afternoon shade. Remote and secluded.
Getting There
Follow the topo's I have posted. Do not try to contour around on the old trail below the rim anymore as it is far too overgrown post fire and runs through a couple of patches of Gooding's Onions. Having been there many times pre-fire I was able to follow about 80-90% of the original trail and it took me approximately 1 1/4 hours from car to crag contouring through the nettles, brush and fallen trees. Definitely "Sucked Ass!!!". Follow the ridges shown on the posted maps. Walking distance is just under a mile. It took less than 30 minutes to walk out following the ridges. Park in the Reef pullout (1 on map) or the ski lift junkyard pullout (2 on map). There may be closer parking higher up that I did not check out so you may want to drive up the road and look. Head up the ridge from either parking area up to the top (3 on map). Look for a broken off burned pine snag about 20 feet high and start your descent there dropping slightly off the west side of the ridge center then slowly veer back towards the middle of the ridge. A visible trail is starting to take shape down this ridge although it doesn't appear until you get down the hill about 50-100 feet. Halfway down this ridge you will encounter a small rock outcropping that you will have to scramble over or around for about 20 feet or so. After scrambling over the rock outcropping the trail shifts slightly to the east side of the ridge center maybe 10-20 feet. At the northernmost end of the saddle (4 on map) the Northpark trail is barely visible and pretty much gone. For Southpark contour to the left (several trails are forming across this hill) below the 8686' elevation peak for 200 yards or so looking for another saddle (5 on map). As you are contouring, an exposed rock peak will become visible up above and to the west. The saddle you are looking for is on the east flank of this peak. A small ridge of rock running up and down the hill may obscure this saddle from view until you cross over the ridge of rock. Once in this saddle drop in to the north and you will find the climbs on your left, "Sweeeeet" you have just arrived in Southpark. Careful when dropping in as everything is eroding and loose after the fire. Let me know if any of my directions are unclear or if things change so I can update the description. Note: The Northpark location and waypoint is an approximation (marked too far north down the ridge) as I did not physically go there to mark it.
Thanks for making the maps and post the new direction. South Park almost became a once-in-my-life-time experience if not for the new way to get there. I am looking forward to go back there soon!
Snyderman, it looks like you could save time, distance and elevation gain/loss by parking up higher and intercepting the trail further south. What do you think ? How were the temps ?
I thought about parking higher next time but the upper parking would be farther away from the ridge high point and I don't know if any other pullouts exist on that narrow road going to the top. I was too tired and hungry to check it out when we got back to the car. EFR would know and maybe he will comment. I parked at the regular area because we were going in on the old trail. If there is alternative parking higher before the parking lot at the top that would certainly be better. Temps were good, a little warm before the sun went over the ridge but great after that. It wasn't very comfortable hanging out because of all of the erosion and anywhere it was flat enough to sit or nap was dirty and ash covered.
Yeah, that first route sort of confuses things when you start down the hill. Looks like someone's been out there recently putting up the route (which looks like it might be fun when finished). Once you get down to the alcove where "Kick the Baby" and the others start it's pretty easy to figure out which climb is which.
New directions from farther up the road: Go past the hairpin turn where you would normally park. The road goes through two right curves. On the straight before the road turns left there is a dirt area on the left side to park. On the right side of the road is a bit of a trail leading up the hill. (There is currently a cairn up at the top.) Head up and left from the road to the top of the ridge. Go left along the ridge and you can pick up a faint trail going around the right side of a knoll. Just past this is the tangle of burned trees in the directions above. A faint but followable trail goes right and down to the saddle and takes you to the crag. This took 15-20 minutes off the approach.
Some further comments on getting there from the new parking area:
Once you get up off the road, from the cairn you only go left for about 100 feet before turning right and booking it pretty much straight up the hill to the ridge. Once you get to the ridge, you will see the large rock outcropping way down and off in the distance to the west. The first time I saw these rocks I thought they couldn't possibly be it because they looked so far away, but once you head down off the ridge you'll be there in about 25 minutes.
Print a Mini-Guide - Includes Routes!
RSS Feed
