Wishing Well, The Rock Climbing

(UPDATED 4/2013 MUCH OF THE INFORMATION BELOW THIS PARAGRAPH IS NO LONGER ACCURATE AS ADDITIONAL FLOODING HAS CHANGED MUCH OF THE LANDSCAPE. THERE IS NO LONGER A WISHING WELL AND WHERE THE WISHING WELL WAS IS NOW LARGE BOULDERS. THIS ENTIRE AREA IS CURRENTLY UNDER DEVELOPMENT BY MIKE CARVILLE, JOSH HORNIAK AND OTHERS. THERE WILL BE A GUIDE PUBLISHED IN THE NEAR FUTURE WHICH WILL PROVIDE COMPLETE INFORMATION ON THE AREA. THE WARNING AT THE BOTTOM OF THE DESCRIPTION CONTINUES TO BE VALID. ONCE THE WATER LEVEL IN SPAULDING LAKE IS BELOW THE OUTLET GATES, THIS WARNING NO LONGER APPLIES.

Located in the area below the upper gorge sits the wishing well, and when viewed from above it's easy to understand why. The wishing well is an emerald colored pool located about 70 feet down from the upper gorge, and is an incredibly beautiful and peaceful place.

This area used to be home to a ton of long moderate to difficult climbs (5.9+ to 5.12b).

However, due to flood damamge, most of the lower bolts no longer exist. Most of the rampy area used for belaying no longer exists. The beginnings of many climbs are now slippery smooth rock, and probably could still be climbed at considerably higher ratings, but falling would mean that you're going to land in the wishing well, or take a bounce off of the rocks first. A Rescue team would take a LONG time to get in here. Most of the starts of the routes on the north side of the well are impossible to get to without swimming.

All routes need to be rappelled into, if you know where you're going you can lower off one of the trees above the wishing well into the area using a 60 meter rope. Otherwise you can rappell down from the gorge above using long slings to rope around one of the many large rocks. Rappelling from the top of Three Minute Hero ( 5.9+) is no longer an option, as someone cut one of the bolts, and the other one has seen better days.

You will be in the shade for almost the entire day here, since the 100 foot gorge walls surround the wishing well.

It should be noted that you will either want to bring an extra rope and leave it on the initial rappell to use for an exit (using ascenders), climb what's left of Three Minute Hero (formerly 5.9+, but probably a low end .10 now), or risk climbing out using the loose sketchy rock and some trad gear to climb the slab (~5.9) on the Southwest side of the well.

WARNING! As the sign posted at the parking lot reminds you, this area is subject to sudden and severe flooding, especially in run off times (late spring and late fall). The walls of the upper wall of the gorge sit below several LARGE floodgates from Spaulding Lake. These gates may open at any time, and as the sign in the parking area states, there may or may not be warning. Being in the Wishing Well when the gates open would probably mean death, if the gates opened while you were in The Wishing Well, you would probably have about 10 seconds of reaction time to move, and there is no fast exit out of this area, and no higher ground without climbing a route or going up to the floodgates themselves. Read all posted signs in the parking area, and also beware that these may not be updated.