Far Side Rock Climbing

The Far Side is one of three major sub-areas off the Exit 38 ramp on the I-90 corridor east of Seattle. It is a collection of mostly bolted crags located on the north side of I-90, all surrounding and below Dirty Harry's Peak. All rock is accessed either from the recently created Dirty Harry's Peak trail, the Climbing Access Loop that branches off from it, or other short spur trails. Most climbing areas are marked with signs. Almost all of the crags have southern exposure and get good sunlight. The Far Side was established more recently than Deception Crags, and it is often less crowded - although this has a lot to do with the longer approaches. Each crag might have one or two trad lines maximum.

There are three main subareas at the Far Side: Neverland, Overhaul and Interstate Park (listed by proximity to the trailhead). Neverland doesn't have a ton of climbing but has an incredibly short approach and some popular short multi-pitch climbs. Overhaul offers a wide selection of routes often being steep and juggy. It was the first of the Far Side crags to be developed and still has some sketch hardware but over the last few years there has been some rebolting and hardware modernization. Interstate Park is the largest subarea encompassing five walls; Headlight Point, Mirror Wall, Eastern Block, Off Ramp & Squishy Bell. The rock is super frictiony and has many good routes in 5.6 - 5.11 range.

Stand alone crags that aren't organized into a subarea include: Gritscone, Truck Town, Sunshine Vista, Gun Show, Shangri-La & Winter Block. Gritscone is a very small wall with easy toprope access to most of the routes; combine this with the easy approach and it is one of the most popular beginner crags in the Exits, with plenty of classes in the summer. Tuck Town is another great small beginner crag if you can get over the freeway noise. If you can deal with the deafening freeway noise and don't mind drilled goodness there is also the impressive Truck Town Cave. Sunshine Vista is a great easy street of quality low angle slab just off the main trail. Gun Show is a massive crag with many longer routes from 5.6 - 5.11+ and has the most popular slab route at Exit 38 on some excellent granite-like rock. There's also a selection of boulders below the crag. Shangri-La is the place to go if you want really good and quite hard 5.11 & 5.12 climbing. Winter Block sitting 1.5 miles from the car is the last crag along the trail and has the furthest approach. It's the best crag if you're looking for seclusion. 

Overall, the Far Side can be a much more enjoyable place to spend your day than Deception Crags. Slightly longer approaches, almost twice the routes, and much more room to spread out can make for a secluded outing. The varied nature of the climbing is also much more interesting than the south side of I-90. Within a mile-ish radius, there is chossy rhino rock, bullet-hard conglomerate sandstone, clean metamorphic-granite-like mix, and pure choss caves (Overhaul). None are parking lot crags, but most have something worth hiking for.