Known to Willamette Valley locals for years, The Garden is one of the state's best bouldering areas. Tucked away in the forest near Sweet Home are a few collections of gigantic boulders with many great problems and potential for many more.
The area is generally separated into two areas: the main area and the Armageddon area. The main area is more developed although there is a ton of potential at both. There is some sport climbing here as well on a few 30-50ft. cliffs.
The rock in this area is generally quite good. There are lots of slopers and the problems are similar to those found up at Squamish. The cruxes of the problems tend to come towards the top due to the sloping rounded nature of many of the boulders.
Be sure to bring some sturdy brushes when climbing here-- there is a ton of moss on the boulders and due to seeing relatively little traffic they get overgrown quickly. Somewhere underneath all the moss there are undoubtedly plenty of yet to be discovered problems.
Getting There
Take Hwy. 20 East through Sweet Home. Drive through town and past the lake. Look for a sign to Quartzville and the fish hatchery and take the left turn. The parking for the main area is 4.3 miles from the turnoff. There are two prominent uphill dirt roads at about this distance; the first one goes to the Armageddon area and the second (better quality) road leads to the main area. Parking for the main area is 50m up this road at the big sweeping left turn. Take the trail down into the forest from here to reach the boulders.
The Classics
Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for The Garden:
An excellent problem with a lot of movement. Works up the stand alone prow near Garden Variety. Start low and heal out right on a good ledge. From there work up to the inverted V pinch and left to the arete. From there it is a long committing move to the slopers on the top. ...[more]Browse More Classics in OR
By corvegas From: the depths of oregon Apr 28, 2006
This area is on private land be respectful. Place bolts by hand, dont leave fixed ropes. As of 4/10 ago someone had left their rope fixed in the main area for a while. If your cleaning, at least clean your rope when you leave.
Also dont place bolts where they dont need to be, they will probably wind up getting chopped.
question: is anyone aware of a guide book for Oregon bouldering locations (ie The Garden and Carver)??? I've checked local climbing gyms and the REI's around the area to find a possible Oregon bouldering book, have havent found anything......
By Peter Franzen Administrator From: Portland, OR Aug 1, 2009
Steven, There is a new bouldering guide for Carver coming out soon (it's done, and it should be released in the next month or so), but I'm not aware of a guide for all of Oregon's bouldering areas.
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