Lime Park (a.k.a. Lime Creek) 

Damn, I was hoping the Front Rangers would never find Lime Park....

That being said, this area is a very good weekend destination trip. You will probably have the whole place to yourself. You must bring everything you need because it is a long rough road back to town. The road over Crooked Creek pass is not open in the winter or early spring, unless you have a snowmobile.

This is a very cool and wild place. Let's try to keep it that way.

Hey Richard, errr, I mean AC;are there some moderate lines for big hens like me?

Don't worry Lee. None of these people will actually make the trip. It's too obscure for most, even if you live close by. Rifle is much better.

It appears that the choss-starved Front Rangers have indeed found the place. I've heard rumors that a good majority of routes have been put in by Front Range Fiends who have run out of good stone. If you do go, bring your helmet and watch out for the limestone-dust-snorting choss-monkeys using backhoes, dynamite and other new route excavation equipment to trundle boulders into the scree. I've never been to Ceuse, but Shelf and Rifle are certainly not slagheaps like Slime Park. And the camping (in the cow shit!) is at your own risk, what with all the rednecks and yahoos drinking swill and blasting the hillsides full of lead till the wee hours of the morning. Sorry, no plug-ins for the EuroVans (if you manage not to rip your frickin' muffler off on the way in). I guess the gas sippin' Jetta is out - best just make it a Rifle weekend, 'less yer handy with oilpan repair. Oh, and the "moderate" lines seem to be loosely sprinkled with rusting coldshuts circa early nineties - musta' been put up by Old School Hardmen with balls as big as church bells and wallets as tight as a squirrels ass. If you slobbering Front Rangers (you know who you are) do come seeking your choss fix, don't camp in areas that ain't already camped in. You'll piss off the local cowpoke (Maynard), who's like as not to raise a stink with his buddies at BLM, who already view rock apes as rogues and miscreants, and would like nothing better to shut down all the crags on Uncle Sam's land. Your land? My land?.....

This area also has some excellent caving. There is even an underground ice climb nearby that I've climbed in July/August.

Lime Creek is a beautiful place, especially in the Fall when the aspens are turning, but the routes are pretty lame....for now. The rock is no where near as featured as Rifle, and Ceause?...give me a break! There is a cave that stands to clean up OK and a couple of really nice lines (even moderate ones), but this is really a "check it out once and move on" area. Rifle and Shelf are better destinations. Chances are you will run into "developers" looking to make a name for themselves (jump on board if you missed out on Rifle). Even with aggresive development, you will experience maybe 1 out of 50 routes worth classic status.

As a long time climber and caver, I urge you folks to please be considerate of this beautiful semi-alpine location. There are many fragile caves in the area that cavers have been visiting for decades. Cavers have fought hard to save this place from loggers, miners and developers. There is plenty of rock here, so please don't put bolts or boulder in the caves or the cave entrances. Cavers and climbers alike have had many areas in the country closed because of inconsiderate bolting. Let's not let Lime Park suffer the same fate.

As another long time climber and caver, I'd like to add my support to AC's comment - the caves in this area have been carefully protected for many years, and I'd hate to see them damaged by wanton bolting. Please, if you are going to climb here, be respectful of the setting and make every effort to minimize your impact!

If you're coming in the summer, I highly recommend bringing along some bug repellent (something that works against flies). It will make your climbing trip much more enjoyable.

Hi-
Just wondering how much sun the various areas get? Is it climbable now with this hot weather? Thanks...

I've updated the topos above.

Regarding sun, west-facing crags go into the shade early afternoon (1:30ish). The North Wall stays shady all day. East-facing crags are shaded by conifers, so you can climb on this side into the afternoon.

There are about a dozen lines left of the Punchbowl - I don't have good beta on these, but I hear there are a few decent routes. Anyone out there have beta?

There are miscellaneous routes popping up here and there, some look quite good. The projects that I'm aware of have red tags, I presume the rest are good to go.

Hey Nate,
Left of the Punchbowl are some 10's/11's and then some harder stuff left of that. Luke Laeser bolted about 5 of the lines, not sure about the others.

Nate, please contact me, I'm responsible for a lot of the F.A.'s in Lime Creek, it looks as if you have named a lot of my routes, I would be more than happy to give you the correct route name's and info. Thanks

Mike, I'd be totally psyched to know what routes you did, names, grades, approximate dates, etc. As I mentioned in the postings, I gave the mystery routes names only as a temporary measure (Un-named 09 is a pretty boring name, no?). There are a few routes popping up here and there - if you have the scoop on these lines, let me know. By the way, I sent you an email via Mtn. Proj. back in July - you may not have gotten it. Feel free to email me via mtn proj with beta. Cheers, Nate

Lime Creek is included in the new guidebook Rifle Mountain Park and Western Colorado Rock Climbs. The author of that section of the book is Nate Adams, who contributed many of the routes to this site. As Nate, myself, and probably many others have found out, the history of Lime Creek climbing is not well documented. Apparently there are plenty of instances of people putting up routes in the woods, not really telling too many people, not really writing too much down about the routes, and then not really remembering too much about them when asked. For that reason, researching the history of routes at Lime Creek was very difficult, and the guidebook, and the info on this site, probably contains inaccuracies. But what is one to do? Not publish anything because the info is hard to come by, or publish what you know and hope that the "first draft" inspires others to remember the past and help fill in the holes that for now remain empty? I hope that over time the "picture" of the past at Lime Creek will become more clear, but for now please know that the information for this area is not really definitive.

If you have information that you would like to see in the next edition of the guidebook, or gripes about the current edition, feel free to email me at andy@wolverinepublishing.com. I will post corrections and updates at wolverinepublishing.com.

Have fun out there!
-andy wellman

If you are making a trip here in the heat of summer and are coming along I-70, you should check out Fulford Cave. Lime Park can get hot and Fulford Cave stays around 40 degrees. There's some really cool huge rooms. It's maybe 20 miles away and a nice distraction and place to cool off. Be sure to bring a spare set of clothes, headlamp, helmet and gloves. Gets pretty dirty in there. I think a google search for Fulford Cave and/or Sylvan Lake can provide maps and info.

If you are camping and the main sites are full, there are two nice separate secluded sites if you make a right leaving either of the two roads leaving the canyon. You'll go over a cow grate then up a slightly rocky hill the sites are on your right after you crest the hill. No more than 5-10 minutes away from the canyon. I think this is south of the canyon. Or you could do what we did and ask to join the climbers you saw at independence pass the week before to join their site. Small world. Thanks guys and ladies.

Can anyone tell me how long it takes to get here from Avon? Thanks. How are conditions now? We're making a trip to Avon in August and wonder if we should try to climb here.

Wow, I'm glad to see sport/trad climbers are still such immature douche-bags. Front Rangers ? really ? This isn't a turf war you imbecile, it's climbing. No wonder there aren't any hard routes up yet, If it's being hoarded by a bunch of rednecks who can barely struggle up 5.12.

To those concerned about the caving and preserving the beauty of the canyon, how would a few bolts on choice overhangs effect you or the integrity of the canyon. Honestly, it seems like the hatred is going to be its downfall!

My opinion of the canyon (and I've done every route there worth its salt) is that it has vast potential. With the exception of the first hundred yards or so of the canyon, the rock is far cleaner and more beautiful than Shelf Road and most of Rifle, which tends to be blocky and ugly. I have explored a great deal of the gorge, and have found SUPERB overhangs (or caves, if you want to use a misnomer) with excellent feature that are much steeper than the Punchbowl. The east rim wraps around for a couple miles after the canyon opens up, and I know there is a great deal of potential there for those who are willing to make the hike.

Just visited for the 1st time this past weekend (8/14/10.) The road from Sylvan Lake IS closed, it's probably about a 1 1/2-2 mile hike from where you need to leave your car, but the walk is all mainly on flat road. The area is absolutely GORGEOUS----it's worth going just to camp and hike, but the climbing didnt blow my mind by any means. I don't think the route quality (rock & actual lines) are nearly as good as Shelf (eek, there I said it!! But this is also totally different limestone). Lots of the rock looks good from afar but is pretty sketchy once you're climbing on it. Maybe once it cleans up things will get better, but I do think some of the stuff I saw probably wasn't worth bolting. That said, it's still a great place to visit, explore and to do a little climbing in a pretty setting :)

I drove a good bit of the road a couple weeks ago and the only thing stopping me was a two foot deep 50 yard stretch of snow. Going back this afternoon to try again. Will post detail upon return.

All is good, Bob. The waterfall in the Punchbowl is going off right now, so nearby climbs were getting misted. Road in is good to go. Watch out for trenches!

Also, if anyone does head out there and finds a green Kavu hat, consider it my gift to you.

Thank you whoever left the Jack Daniels bottle in the crag by Evil Empire. I saw you wrote on the bottle, but all I could make out was 6-14-2006. Well-aged Crag Whiskey. Delicious. Needed a shot before Evil Empire. This was a great find since we opened up sLime Creek this season to cars. Forest Service told us not to drive through the snow or they would have to actually DO SOMETHING and pull us out and they left. One shovel, 4 people, 1.5 hours later we opened the damn road this season, and a victory whiskey for everyone!

Anyone have any beta on the new route on the corner between the prow and the north wall. I liked it a lot and was just wondering what it was rated?

This is the new corner route between the prow (left) and the north wall. Cool line but I can't find a rating. It's not in the Rifle guidebook. Submitted By: vimmerstedt on Jun 17, 2012

Access question: How bad is the road? I'm in a VW Golf and wondered how close I can get, or if I can make it to the camping?

As someone else mentioned - that "new" (it was there last summer) corner route seemed 9+/10a.

There's another way to get there. You can drive up from Rudei Reservoir. Road is paved from Basalt to FR 512, then it's a much shorter dirt section than coming up from Eagle.

I think both those routes on the prow go at 9+/ 10-. This place is rad -- fun limestone sport climbing in a remote and scenic spot. Hard to beat!