Lover's Leap Rock Climbing

Per Heath Glasgow: update approach: from the Denver metro area, hop on US 285 South toward Fairplay. As you pass the cliff, continue on the road until the exit for Indian Hills. The parking area is on the northbound side of the road, so use the overpass to turn around onto US 285 N toward Denver. Park at a large, dirt pulloff below the cliff.

Coordinates for parking area:39.61757, -105.21590 (goo.gl/maps/nUMLnt4pXjh5oAHd6)

From 10 yards left (east) of the "No Dumping" sign, find a steep gully leading down toward the creek. Once at the bottom, follow the trail left (east) for 10 yards to a Home Depot bridge. Use this to cross the creek, then head right (west) for 20 yards. A cairn on a large rock marks a gully on the left (south). Head up the rocky gully for 10 yards. Find a steep, dirt path on the left (east) side marked with a JeffCo climbing access sign. Follow this trail steeply uphill and slightly left (southeast). After 10 yards, a switchback to the left and then back right makes this section much more pleasant. After a few minutes, the trail turns left (east) to the first talusfield. Cairns guide you the rest of the way from here. Hike diagonally up and left (southeast) through the first talus field. Continue traversing the hillside (east) along a faint, rocky trail. Hike through the next talus field, aiming for the top, far corner (southeast). From here, another 10 yards on the trail takes you to the base of the cliff under the route Lover's Leap. 

Previously:

Driving directions from Golden:

From the intersection of CO Hwy 93 and US 6, take US 6 East a few miles to CO-470 East (Colorado Springs). Go 6 mi. on CO-470 to the US 285 South exit. Go 4.3 miles on US 285 South to milepost 247, then continue to a spot where you can turn around. There are several spots for U-turns from the left lane, but the safest is to continue to a right-hand exit and take an overpass back onto US 285 North. Go back to a large pullout at milepost 247.

From the parking area, head east (upstream) about a hundred yards and take a steep path down to the creek. Crossing the creek is made easy with a makeshift bridge made out of logs that is easy to find as you head down the steep bank from the pull out toward Turkey Creek. Once across, find a black rope you can use to get up the steep bank at the other side. Follow a trail through the woods (past a wooden teepee) to a talus field below the rock. Trees are marked with pink tape. Continue up and left to the base of the routes. For the Unknown 5.9, look for bolts heading up a blocky area on the face. The route, Lover's Leap, starts just to the right.

From Bob Brockwehl: Alternate Approach: I climbed at Lover's Leap on June 28 this year and the water level was low enough to use the approach described below. You can bring a short piece of rope to belay people across the creek if necessary (don't tie in for this, just hold on to a loop in the end of the rope).

From the parking area look directly across the creek to find a cleft in the trees on the opposite bank that marks a small tributary stream. Head for this spot (but do not go straight down hill as this will cause erosion). At this point there is a shallow pool that you can wade across. Go up the tributary for 10-20 yards and climb steeply up the left bank for about 20 feet (trail is faint here). This will bring you to an obvious trail leading downstream along the top of the steep creek bank. This trail will turn up hill and take you to the talus field below the crag.