East Clear Creek 

This place is Great!
Went there in August a few years back, the weather was in the 90's but was perfect for some DWS. I know the creek can be low certain times so not a bad idea to ask a local before traveling down there.

As for camping, we drove just east of the resivoir and turned south onto some dirt roads next to the canyon, make sure you are on the east side as i believe the west side of the river is on private land... The camping would have been a lot more pleasant if it wasn't for the insane ammount of broken glass around. Seems people really like to prove themselves by breaking bottles woooo. I'm sure you could camp else where away from the canyon, but then you couldn't wake up and jump in the river...

Always check your landing and have fun.

I have been climbing at Clear Creek for close to ten years. Others have climbed there much longer and much earlier than I have. Due to the nature of the area first ascents are nearly impossible to be sure of. Please avoid claiming first ascents on things that I know for a fact have been climbed previously. So basically, its probably best not to claim any first ascents at Clear Creek.

I loved bouldering out here in the late nineties. Not too many folks around, just a crew from Flag and some local kids from Winslow who thought we were weird, but they did show us the sickest cliff jumps. The fishermen thought we were all nuts. I Had my truck locked in at Mchood once, and had to hitchhike into town to grab some dinner and a cheap motel for the night. The gates get locked sometime around sunset.

Hey Ethan...Perhaps mistakenly claiming an F.A. is a little ignorant and arrogant, but to think that no first ascents should or can be claimed at CC because you "know for a fact" they have already been climbed by you or someone you know(or by someone in your imagination) is really just taking the arrogance up a notch. Specifically enlighten us with your knowledge and experience about which climbs you "know for a fact have been climbed previously" and those of us that have taken the time to contribute to this site will make necessary changes to our posts. On that note, I could post another handful or more of F.A.s done from 03' to 05' that I'm certain would prove you wrong about what you are trying to tell everyone. I appreciate you trying to keep it real, but your statement goes too far. I am certain of that.

Colin, I agree, my statement probably goes too far. FA’s at Clear Creek should be claimed and then adjusted if found to be incorrect. My comment was entirely directed at Jared Cleerdin’s slew of FA’s (not at yours or the ones which you submitted, those seem legitimate) which to me do not seem credible as it appears he visited Clear Creek and then anything with no chalk he claimed as an FA. You wanted specifics: I climbed the “Microwave”, “Microwave Warm-up”, and “Slop Slop Slap Arete” during Summer of 2008. I’m not saying that I have the FA on those because undoubtedly someone else climbed them before 2008; quite honestly I don’t care too much about who did what first, it’s just bothersome when I see someone making what appear to be bogus claims.

A little consensus never hurt. I think it's fair to say that people have been hucking themselves off of climbs here for a long time. It would be interesting to know just how long, and maybe some more history on the routes here will surface with time.

An option on the FAs with question marks, would be to use something like "East Clear Creek Old School" or something of the sort. Maybe just ECCOS. That way people know it was indeed done a long time ago, but exactly by who is unknown. Just a thought.

It's entirely possible that I too have made a bogus claim or two. Part of the reason I claim an F.A. is so that someone else won't do so later, but then I may be doing exactly what I'm trying to prevent. JJ's idea is a good one if there is any question. Some input from early explorers may help clear this up, but here is my take on the history of Clear Creek:

From the time the Winslow Wall began getting attention, people became aware of the awesome rock in the reservoir. I imagine many climbers were awestruck by the number of climbs with no beach to belay from, and many began dabbling with the endless shorter chunks, either from a point on the beach or a boat. I imagine many of the most obvious shorter cracks and patina covered chunks in the middle area of the reservoir were played on or climbed. I don't imagine, however, that many climbers went after the taller, prouder, or more difficult lines until later. Nor do I imagine that any climber or group of climbers made more than a couple trips into the canyon specifically to climb the plethora of classic lines. The only strong boulderer that I am aware of having ventured into CC is Mike Gash. I imagine he easily could have picked some bouldery plums before "deep water soloing" became popular after the turn of the century. Just as we did on our first explorations in 2003, he, like climbers before him, probably went after some of the most obvious lines. Therefore I imagine that some obvious, mega classic lines published on MP, like The Shield, Full Value, Last Day.., Coleman's Daughter..., may have been climbed before the DWS craze began around 2003. But maybe not...I don't know how serious people were taking this sort of climbing, or how bold they were getting, or if they were just messing around drinking beer and basically enjoying life. This is the question that early explorers could answer for us.

What I do know is that when we began going out in 2003, we had multiple boats(some motorized), a dozen motivated, strong boulderers, depth check devices(a weight on a cord), chalk buckets, kegs of beer, and the playfully competitive vibe to climb harder and taller lines, as well as anything that was beautiful and classic. That first summer in 2003 I made 5 or 6 trips to the Creek(there were a handful of trips I didn't make it on), and each time the anti was upped to harder, taller and more visionary lines. After 3 summers of this, there was and still is more to do. Other climbing crews began visiting shortly after, finding their own inspiration in the endless rock of the canyon. The potential of Chevlon Canyon was discovered around 2006, and our crew shifted focus and climbed at least a hundred classic new lines there in the following years, none of them recorded except in our beer and wine fogged minds.

So were the early, 20th century days of Clear Creek like the days of Chevlon Canyon for us? Motivated crews plucking every classic line up to 5.13 regardless of height?(there's a hundred more) It's time for some oldschoolers to chime in with some history.

Yeah, being a newby to this area, I can safely say that it'd be cool to hear more history. Made my first and only trip (so far, hopefully will get back next year!) on Sunday and had no clue about any routes, except when some passing Flag climbers would yell out the name of whatever we were on. Finding some of the routes here now, I discover that we actually got on a fair number of classics just be on sighting what I thought were nice looking lines. Hard for me to tell with some of the pics that are posted, so will be sure to have the info with me next time. Bottom line, it's an amazing place and terrific to climb whatever I feel like without any concern about ratings and whatnot!