Bulo Point is a great place for beginners since most of the routes can be toproped. There are many fun leads as well, over 15 routes with a couple overhangs, mostly in the 5.6 to 5.10 range. There are also many great boulder problems in the area, check out the old Portland bouldering guide
Getting There
Drive south from Hood River or, east from Government Camp on Hwy 35. Between Sherwood and Robin Hood campground turn east on F.S. 44. Drive for about 10 miles. Turn on 4420 take it for little more than a mile then turn left onto 4421 which leads to 240. Stay right, take this for about 1 mile. Look for a trail on your left. Park and hike 2 min on the trail to crag. Not much parking but not many cars either.
The Classics
Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Bulo Point:
It appears that it is possible to approach the first bolt by either climbing up the left side of the spire on the sloppy looking holds or stemming on the right side the then reaching far out to the bolt. Starting on the left side is better and the holds are a more positive than they look. The technical crux comes slightly above the first bolt and involves an awkward balancy transition from the left to the right of the spire. From here good holds lead directly up to another bolt. Then the route b...[more]Browse More Classics in OR
Hum... these directions didn't help me much, nor did those in Ron Horton's Weekend Rock Oregon Book. I'd like to think most people find it easier than I did... but if not, here are my rough notes: If you miss the faint trail to the crag as you walk along or drive along 240, you will quickly come to a sign for some lookout point on your left (you've gone to far, turn around) and if you miss that sign, you'll soon come to a sign for a natural spring (again, you've gone too far, turn around), and if you missed both signs, the road will take you to the paved road again just 3 or 4 miles up from where you had turned off of it. Not sure why Ron Horton would put a map in his book and note there is no sign for Bulo Point's trail off this dirt road, but not bother to draw-in or mention the next point's sign that is only .25 mile past Bulo point, or that Spring's sign, that is only .5 mile or so past Bulo point. Wish I remembered the names on those signs, but all you need to know is they mean you already went by Bulo point. Happy cragging.
4421 was almost exactly a mile on my odometer, stay on the main dirt track after that, I only noticed one little down (left) turning road besides this, keep going maybe a couple of miles past a clearing with a steep bank on the left and into a somewhat deep grove with a ton of deadfall trees, the trail is a little vague but you can see a couple of the rocks looking down it, if you get to a sign that says "Marion Point" you have gone about a mile too far,,,the writing is on the opposite side of the direction of travel and its a bit broken. Horrible place unless you like purple flowers and an alpine feel as much as a challenging pitch. Bring good coffee, its a long drive back to P-town.
Once the road turns to dirt, it is just about 1 mile exactly to the parking/access trail. If you dont see any cars, look off to your left as you approach. You should be able to see some rocks through the trees and you should notice some clearings on both sides of the road for parking (it's not much though - maybe 3 cars on the right and 1 or 2 on the left).
While I saw several small sedans parked here, I wouldn't think that would be the ideal approach vehicle (very rough, rocky dirt road for that last mile).
I installed a hanger on the last bolt on Cattle Guard and added some red loctite so it should stay put this time.
The hangers are still missing from the anchor atop Nuke the Gay Whales for Jesus. It would be nice to have Metolius Rap hangers here as opposed to the standard hangers used on the neighboring climbs on this wall. Whatever is used as a replacement, please consider using loctite on the nuts. I don't know if the studs are 3/8" or 10mm so plan accordingly.
Note at exactly 0.9 miles on FS 2730-240 is a group of parking spaces three on the left, one on the right, each can hold two to three cars. This is 0.1 miles before the trailhead for Bulo Point climbs. At the Bulo Point trailhead there only one good (not as good as the ones you just passed) parking space on the right (for two cars) and one car may park on the trailhead itself. Maybe best to park 0.1 miles before and walk the rest.