Foster Falls Climbing

The most beautiful place I've ever climbed--camp @ Father Adamz, have a good time. Feb 11, 2008

I agree, very nice. Nov 8, 2008

Hey Everyone,

Just wondering what temps could I expect here in mid-Feb? Just trying to plan a winter climbing trip. It seems like T-Wall would be good to go, and I was wondering if I could squeeze in some sport climbing as well. I'm not expecting t-shirt weather, but I don't want to climb in real cold conditions either (I can do that here at home!). Thanks.

Mike Oct 22, 2009

Visited mid December and temps were mid 40s and sunny. Climbing was great. Found a couple of routes to be a bit sandbagged but in general had a great time and it was good climbing. Nights were down in the 30s and 20s so went to Chattanooga for dinner each night. Camped at Raccoon Mtn and we were the only campers. Bathrooms at Plot were super nice, as was signage and falls. Congrats to South Cumberland group for doing a great job with this crag~ Dec 21, 2010

Does anybody know if the campground is open. Any info that would be handy to know. We are planning on coming the first weekend in March Feb 21, 2012

I'm passing through Chattanooga September 19, 20 & 21 and looking for a sport climbing partner. Sep 18, 2012

Does anyone know anything about the route to the left of Pillsbury with the orange hangers? I did the route over the weekend and was interested in the name/rating. Thanks. Feb 20, 2013

Sam. The route with the orange hangers may be Milk Dudds. 5.9 Feb 25, 2013

This felt much harder than 5.9 more like 5.12. I believe Milk Dudds is just right of Pilsbury (also has orange hangers). This was in between Pilsbury and Kids with Guns. Mar 4, 2013

OK Sam. That one is Crimp Knob 5.12- Sorry for the confusion. Mar 6, 2013

How is Foster Falls in the summer? Is there enough shade to make it reasonable?
Thanks! Mar 4, 2014

Camping at Foster closed until further notice.

mountainproject.com/v/foste… Mar 16, 2014

Kudos to the administrators of this page for taking the time to organize the routes into areas. Jun 9, 2014

You can download a FREE Foster Falls Day Guide from Rockery Press by clicking on the following link: rockerypress.com/free-day-g…

Foster Falls Free Guide includes:

• Driving & Approach Beta
• Rules & Recommendations
• Several days of route descriptions and recommendations

Oct 13, 2014

Wanted to give a heads up to folks about the strict "No Alcohol" policy. The group camping next to us had a single canned beer out while quietly cooking dinner around dusk, and the ranger on duty crept up on them and had them pour out the open beer as well as all the beer in their cooler under threat of a fine or getting kicked out of the park. Rules are rules, but I've never seen this level of enforcement in a state park, so if you're going to imbibe, keep it in a cup and on the DL because there are some crusading rangers at this place. Apr 25, 2016

The first night we discovered that the park has now changed their process in which you have to make reservations online before you are able to camp anywhere in the state park. Also, we learned that the two closest backcountry camping sites, Father Adamz (.5 mile from parking lot), and Small Wilde (just over 2 miles from parking lot), both require payments now to be able to camp there. This was regulated thoroughly by a park ranger that would walk the trail each night, checking the sites and making sure that every one was off of the trail by 30 minutes after sunset.
Climbing was decent. The concentrated 5.9 climbs in Jimmywood seemed a bit harder climbs for the 5.9 range. I highly recommend doing Saturated in Jimmywood. Was a fun high, 5.8 climb.

Our final day at the crag, we did a fun 4-5 mile out-&-back trail run down past both campsites and climber access points. Then we went down to the swimming hole of Foster Falls (the waterfall was dried up at this time) and swam and bouldered on the rock behind where the water fall is. Sep 19, 2016

I haven't camped here since the state took it over but no beer policy is a turn off - prohibition ended sometime back - good gawd y'all! Google camping options look grim - no RV for me. Beta? Oct 4, 2016

Heres a video of me climbing there. Beautiful place.
youtube.com/watch?v=PwSEHmn… Mar 7, 2017

Good morning all,

I will be traveling through the area on weekend of May 12-14, 2017 and am looking for a belay buddy. Anyone know of a group going out that weekend?

Best,
Faith Apr 22, 2017

I would highly recommend that someone who is familiar with this area either organize the climbing walls/location in relation to one another or provide a rough map that shows the location of the walls in relation to one another. Coming from someone who has only come here once before and trying to navigate these climbs I find it almost impossible. Every 2-5 climbs is considered a different crag and directions to each include descriptions such as, "Near Snatch" or "Just past White Wall". If you don't know where any particular wall is there is no way to tell how to get to any particular climb. Thanks for considering. May 9, 2017

Hey Zachj, we've climbed here once before and found mountainproject to be just useful enough but mostly very annoying. We're coming back tomorrow and this time have made a rough map of the area from the info extrapolated from MP. Here is a list of the areas in order, 'right to left', to the best of my knowledge...
From the falls trail:
White Wall
So what Area
Crime Buttress
Right Bunker
Left Bunker
The Dihedrals
Whole lot of breakdown and climber access one from the ridge (fiery gizzard) trail
Jimmywoods
Gutbuster Area
Sanford Wall
Rocket Slab
Rehab Slab
Snatch Wall
2nd access from the ridge trail
Red light district
Seasonal waterfall
Music city/5.9
Paradox Wall
Wall of Useless Conflict
Dogboy Village

Hope this helps you and whoever else comes here trying to decipher things. If anything is incorrect or out of date please feel free to correct me... preferably before tomorrow morning before I set out for round two of 'where in foster falls is...?' May 25, 2017

I'm gonna be there in 2 weeks. Any chance someone has the locations of the crags on Google my maps, and can share it with the group? Jul 1, 2017

this file contains exact crag locations, and can be imported into google earth:
thecrag.com/climbing/united…

Also, a PDF guide is available (not sure how good it is though):
thecrag.com/CIDS/cgi-bin/di… Jul 3, 2017

Thank you Jenny and Zack Str!! Much appreciated and super helpful. Mar 28, 2018

I registered to visit Foster Falls / South Cumberland State Park to go rock climbing. I received the confirmation e-mail, and I just wanted to clarify something listed in the rules section of the e-mail. The first rule states "Rappelling is not allowed at Foster Falls"; another rule states "Absolutely no top roping directly off fixed anchors." At the end of the climb (i.e. clearing the rope, etc), should we rappel from the fixed anchors, or lower through the fixed anchors? Both seem contradictory to the rules as written, so I just wanted to make sure that we are following them! Thanks!! May 14, 2018

I am planning a sport climbing trip with my boyfriend the first week of January and I was wondering if anyone knows of free camping areas nearby? Dec 21, 2018

Has anyone come across a pair of climbing shoes at Foster's. I think I may have been so upset about leaving a piece of gear, I distractedly also left my shoes... Jan 3, 2019 · Lost & Found