Lynn Woods is a 2200 acre municipal forest strewed with glacial erratic boulders and surrounded by a few large reservoirs. Its location about 10 miles north of Boston makes it an ideal place to access an overwhelming amount of quality climbing in an idyllic and serene setting, minutes from the city.

While there are sport and trad routes here, Lynn Woods is primarily a bouldering destination. Over the past 10 years, bouldering here has been developed extensively to the point that the number and quality of boulder problems rivals that of Pawtuckaway and Lincoln Woods. The late Rich Baker was an early pioneer of Lynn Woods along with Bob Johnson. Rich developed numerous problems that remain classics today including Baker's Bulge, Endless Summer, Independence Day, Tomb Raider and Cavity Search. Rich was also responsible for helping to initiate a new group of boulderers to this area. This new wave of developers included, Pete Otis, Bob Parrott, Andy Scott, Jerome Boutaud, Dean Feuller, Jon Roberts, Darryl Leonard, Ben Hoza, Ryan Bouldin, Tim McGivern, Dave Twardowski, Luis Gaviria, among others. According to Pete Otis and Andy Scott, this area has the best bouldering within an hour of Boston.

There are now over 1000 boulder problems up to 20 feet in height on at least 450 boulders in the area that can range from very short to 30 minute approaches, making Lynn Woods the largest climbing area in the entire New England area! The quality ratings indicate over 80 4-star problems here. Currently the majority of problems range from V0 to V9 in difficulty, however there are many open projects in the double digit range; some perhaps as high as V13-V14. Most of the boulders are course grained Peabody granite, pinkish-tan or grey in color. Boulders south of Dungeon Rock Area tend to be finer-grained and highly featured granite that is dark grey in color.

The local ethos of Lynn Woods has traditionally been to develop pure lines which are not contrived eliminates and do not detract from established problems or routes. Please respect that spirit and refrain from posting contrived eliminate boulder problems or routes from this area on Mountain Project. In addition, the Southeast New England Climbers Coalition works with the city and park ranger to make the area more easily navigable by climbers, but currently any new signage or trails is off-limits.

Lynn Woods Park is organized into 13 distinct climbing areas. Boundaries of areas are generally defined based on topographic features, trails, history, and density of climbing among other factors. A high level map of the areas can be found

. Within each area listed, you'll find boulders, walls, and crags. Boulders are stand alone, walls are horizontal sections of rock that extend out from the bedrock with one or more sides exposed, and crags are collections of boulders and walls within a very close proximity of each other - a rule of thumb is that that all problems within a crag can be reached with climbing shoes on.

Historically, many of these bouldering areas were hard to find due to the somewhat sparse distribution of the boulders across the forest, however a recent technological initiative has geolocated nearly every boulder in the park and cross referenced this info with mountain project, making Lynn Woods climbing extremely accessible to all who are interested in climbing here and does not require any prior knowledge of the park layout. From Tim McGivern, Dave Twardowski: this map can be found

here

.

This map is on the Caltopo platform, meaning that the data can be downloaded to a phone or other GPS device, then opened with an app such as GAIA in order to provide directions to any boulder in Lynn Woods to within a few feet of accuracy. Areas with known access issues are omitted from this map. Combined with the MP app, you end up having a virtual guide on your phone to the location of any boulder.

During the process of geolocating the boulders, names of boulders and problems has been coordinated with the mp.com page. This was done carefully with consideration of the original developers. The map is not perfect, but it is by far the best resource available for climbing at Lynn Woods at this time. It is also continually improving with time. If there are folks who are interested in improving the map, please contact the above.

Reading the map
Boulders are marked with solid circles and walls are marked with lines resembling combs - the flat part indicates the face of the wall. Blue, green and red colors are used to indicate quality for all boulders. Boulders containing at least one 4 star line are marked in blue. Boulders with 2-3 star lines are marked in green, and boulders with 1-2 star lines are marked in red. This is subjective

Fire roads are marked with black lines, official park trails that are maintained are marked with solid blue lines, and unofficial single track trails are marked with dashed blue lines. These trails can occasionally be faint or get rerouted from time to time, so some skill in navigation may be required when using these paths.

POI's such as parking lots, and park features are also noted on the map. Tracks from exploration are on the map as well, which for the adventurous climber, may be useful when planning to explore new areas for climbing. All of the named boulders and walls on the map are on mountain project. Anything without a name has not been climbed yet.

Much of the credit for the map is due to an older Bouldering website that contains the original bouldering map and pictures which the caltopo map has since built on.

Lynn Woods Park has two main entrances with parking lots and a multitude of smaller access points with limited parking. Pennybrook and Great Woods are accessed from the main parking lots. Great Woods is closer to more climbing than Pennybrook. All the parking areas are described in detail below:

The park can also be accessed from Bow Ridge Reservation in Lynnfield. This allows much better access to climbs in Bow Ridge, Deep Woods, Bikini Bottom, and Nature Valley. The parking lot for Bow Ridge Reservation is behind the Kelly Jeep dealership on Route 1, way in the back near the woods.

There are also numerous public ways which abut the park. Careful attention should be given to showing respect for the residents if accessing the park from a public way. Be discreet and respectful. The public ways that are closest to climbing are Mary Ellen Drive and Quinn Road. These public ways are typically used to shorten up the approach to specific areas. Please pay attention and respect posted signage from Lynn Water and Sewer Commission.

There is at least one climber friendly private parking lot that borders the park. The Army Barracks (P04 on caltopo map) on Route 1 has a private parking lot with access to the west side of the park. This is the best access for Bikini Bottom and parts of Nature Valley. You must obtain permission to park in this lot before entering the woods!

Approaches: areas that can be accessed from each parking area are listed according to the length of the approach. “Short” approaches will take about 5-10 minutes of walking, “medium”, will take 10-20 minutes, and “long” will take 20-30 minutes These are very approximate but can be used to help plan your outing. If you need a more exact time to find your boulder, you’ll need to plan out your hike and avoid taking a wrong turn!

From Boston:

Great Woods Main Entrance (P01 on Caltopo Map)
Take Route 1 North to where it intersects Route 129. Take Route 129 East towards Lynn/Swampscott. You’ll come to a rotary in about 0.5 miles. Take the first exit staying on Route 129 East. Stay on Route 129 East for another 2 miles. Take a right onto Great Woods Road. You’ll see the entrance in front of you!

Short approach: Fenway and Stone Tower (Queens Row vicinity).
Medium approach: Mt. Spicket, Golf Course, Stone Tower, Dungeon, Steel Tower, Overlook, Weetamoo, and Bow Ridge (Tomb Raider vicinity).
Long approach: Weetamoo, Overlook, Nature Valley, and Bow Ridge (Slug Wall vicinity).
Very long approach (30+ minutes): Deep Woods, Bikini Bottom, and Bow Ridge.

Pennybrook Main Entrance (P02 on caltopo map)
Take Route 1 North to the Walnut Street exit towards Lynn (east). Take Walnut Street east for about 0.3 miles and take a left onto Pennybrook Road. Take that to the end.

Short approach: Dungeon Rock and parts of Birch Pond
Medium approach: Birch Pond and Stone Tower (Bob Johnson Boulders vicinity).
Long approach: Stone Tower, Steel Tower, and Golf Course.
Very long approach (30+ min): Fenway and Mt. Spicket.
Very, very long approach: everything else.

Bow Ridge Reservation “Back Door” (P03 on caltopo map)
Take Route 1 North to the Kelly Jeep Dealership. This is located just before the intersection with Route 129. Drive to the back of the parking lot to the woods. You should see a small parking area with a picnic table. The parking is dedicated for access to the Bow Ridge Reservation which is contiguous with Lynn Woods.

Short approach: Bow Ridge (Water Tower vicinity and Crooked Tooth)
Medium approach (10-20 minutes): Bow Ridge (Back Door vicinity), Deep Woods, and Bikini Bottom.
Long approach: Bow Ridge (Tomb Raider vicinity), Weetamoo, Nature Valley, and Bikini Bottom.
Very Long Approach (30+ minutes): Fenway and Mt. Spicket.
Very, very long approach: everything else.

Mary Ellen Drive (Public Way) (P06 on Caltopo map)
Climbers park here to shorten the approach to the Mt. Spicket area and some of the boulders in the Fenway area.

Take Route 1 North to where it intersects Route 129. Take Route 129 East towards Lynn/Swampscott. You’ll come to a rotary in about 0.5 miles. Take the first exit staying on Route 129 East. Take a right onto Dartmouth Street after about a mile (if you get to the hospital, you’ve gone too far). Take your first left onto Woodland Road. Woodland Road turns to Mary Ellen Drive. Please be courteous to the residents. Read and abide by all postings from the Lynn Water and Sewer Commission.

Quinn Road (Public Way) (P05 on Caltopo map)
Climbers park here to shorten the approach to the Weetamoo, Overlook, Nature Valley, and some of the boulders in Bow Ridge.

Take Route 1 North to where it intersects Route 129. Take Route 129 East towards Lynn/Swampscott. You’ll come to a rotary in about 0.5 miles. Take the first exit staying on Route 129 East. Take a right onto Dartmouth Street after about a mile (if you get to the hospital you’ve gone too far). Take Dartmouth Street to the end where it rounds a bend and intersects with Quinn Road. Please be courteous to the residents. Read and abide by all postings from the Lynn Water and Sewer Commission.

You can find information on the park's rich history, points of interest such as dungeon rock/wolf pits/stone tower, and tours at the Friends of Lynn Woods website.
From the website: The Friends of Lynn Woods is the primary community group that supports the City in improving and maintaining Lynn Woods. Incorporated in 1990, the “Friends” is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to insure the perpetual existence of the Lynn Woods Reservation. This site also contains a map that is the standard map used by most non-climbing visitors in the park. The cells and numbers on the map can be used to triangulate your position based on the tags on trees at the intersections of trails.

For more park information, please visit the City of Lynn's Official website.

The mountain biking in Lynn Woods may possibly be one of the best in all of New England. There are over 40 miles of trails. The trails on the north side of Walden Pond are a freerider's paradise, full of drops, rock gardens, and other natural obstacles. An experienced cross-country rider will love the fast single track and monster climbs on the south side. Even the fireroads are fun and challenging for beginners.