Rocks State Park Climbing

Rocks State Park is about 40 minutes north of Baltimore, and has some of the best trad routes in Maryland. There are three main climbing areas. The main outcropping is called the King and Queen Seat, and hosts the majority of the routes. A small, 40ft pillar juts out from the end of the King and Queen Seat, to form the Strawberry Jam Pillar. Finally, off in the woods to the east is the Smoke and Ash Crag, hosting two short routes. Most of the worthwhile climbs are in the first two areas.

There are about 25 routes and a couple of variations. A couple of them are fairly high quality for the area, and two or three are exceptional by Maryland standards. The grades range from 5.4 to 5.12 and most of the routes can be toproped, either by slinging trees and blocks, or with a bit of gear.

The rock is fairly hard and eats up stopper placements. Cam placements can be a bit tricky due to the flaring rock. The main wall, with the highest concentration of high quality routes gets early sun.

There are few objective hazards in Rocks. There are copperhead snakes in the area, and occasionally popular climbs like Breakaway(5.9) and Vertical play host to wasp nests.

There is some old fixed gear, but all new fixed gear is banned, except by permission of the park ranger. The only access issue is that the park closes at sunset, and you will be fined if you are caught in the park after dark.