PRINT: Rock Climbing in Hidden Rocks, Shenandoah & NW VA Region

Hidden Rocks

Virginia > Shenandoah & NW VA Re…

Description

30-65 foot tall sandstone cliffs just inside the George Washington National Forest in Rockingham County. Well shaded topropes and leads as well as bouldering on decent rock.

Getting There

15 miles or so from Harrisonburg, VA.

Take 257 from Dayton, VA through the town of Ottobine. Continue following 257. Follow 257 through a right turn at the "257 Grocery" store. 1.8 miles up the road you cross a small bridge.

Shortly after the bridge (2.2mi from the grocery store), turn right onto Hone Quarry Road (Fireroad 62). Follow this 0.4 miles to a well defined gravel parking lot on the right.

Park here and take the yellow-blazed trail that starts on the right side of the parking area. Follow this as it rises and falls for about 10 minutes until it turns sharply left. After about 50 yards you'll get to the first stream crossing—the trail will T here, stay left. The yellow blazed trail will cross the stream three more times (four total) and right before the fifth stream crossing the yellow blazed trail will cut up right (steeply) and take you straight to the Lower Hidden area. The bolted route (2 bolts) in front of you is Snowblower (5.9+)

Parking area: 38°26'53.5"N 79°07'18.9"W Google Maps

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

Parking lot

Martha starts the steep "Jungle Gym" sequence at Hidden Roofs. 5.8+

Approaching warmup crack. Drizzly conditions still were manageable.

Ben leads "Gone to Texas" at Hidden Roofs. Photo by Brian Alvarado

Next to warmup crack

Walk in the Park

Chimney boulder

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

fhall421

The grassy area listed above is no longer open to the public. Please do not park here. Instead go just a little further past the grassy area and turn onto Hidden Quarry Road (Fireroad 62). Follow this about .4 miles to a gravel parking lot on the right. You can park here and take the yellow-blazed trail on the right into the woods. Follow this as it rises and falls for about 10 minutes until it turns sharply left. After about 50 yards you'll get to the first stream crossing. The yellow blazed trail will cross the stream three more times (four total) and right before the fifth stream crossing a trail will cut up right and take you straight to the Lower Hidden. Again, do not park in the grassy lot described in Hoerst's book. I recommend picking up "Climbing Rockingham County" by Lester Zook. It's a great guide to the area and is available at Wilderness Voyagers in Harrisonburg. The description to the cliffs are much better. Oct 18, 2012

Jeff Inman

Does anyone have information on the bouldering here? The guidebook I have is very minimal and am just curious as to what has been established and what hasn't. Thanks! Dec 2, 2012

Clinton Miller

The Artz and Avatar boulders are excellent and easy to find. Pass the Hone Quarry parking lot and look for a gravel pull-out on the left. Park here and look north, uphill across the road. You should see a large boulder; this is the Avatar boulder. From the Avatar boulder, head right (east) a few hundred feet, without going up or down hill, to reach the Artz boulder. Two awesome easy highballs, slappy aretes, crimpy devious desperates, and a few burly overhanging problems. State of the Artz (arete on SE of Artz boulder) would be a classic V5 (original rating 5.12 I think) anywhere. These two boulders are the best here, but a few more exist if you poke around. Enjoy! Jan 6, 2013

Aaron Parlier
Boone, NC

You all should post that info on here! Photos too! Jan 6, 2013

Jeff Inman

My fiance and I are moving into the area and have the guide book written by Horst, but can't seem to find much info of the breakdown of what problems are on what boulders, etc. Are there any locals that would be willing to trip out there with us?

And trust me Aaron, once we figure out what's out there, we will be updating it! Jan 13, 2013

Aaron Parlier
Boone, NC

Thank you Jeff it will be great to see some of these for sure! Have fun out there! Jan 13, 2013

andrewsmmm

@fhall421 - thanks so much for your directions. Went there this morning to scope it out. Went the previous day with my daughter and gave up just shy of the first river crossing--should've checked here first because we were using Horst's book. There is some evidence of streams on the main approach but those do not constitute the streams that fhall421 kindly points out (the streams are full streams--got my feet wet in a couple) so keep going. The walls look great - looking forward to coming back. But as I said, follow fhall421's directions and you'll get there. It took us about 30 mins from trail head to the rocks - probably could've done it quicker--we took along our old dog and she slowed us down crossing the streams. One question I have is, at what end of hidden rocks does this path terminate? From what I could make out it is the far end of Lower Hidden - right around Lil Bubba. Is that correct? Jun 16, 2013

Chase Flint
Lexington, Virginia

Looking at heading up there with a group of varied ability- I've been told there's some sport here, but the website and the Virginia climbing guide make no mention of it. If I have no trad gear are we going to end up just top roping? Or do we have an ability to do some sport as well? Feb 6, 2015

K Baumgartner

The directions as others have pointed out in the Horst book and here on MP aren't quite right.

After cross the extremely small bridge, after about 150 yards turn right onto Hone Quarry Road and not Hidden Quarry Road, which doesn't exist. There's a GW National Forest Sign at the intersection that's a good marker to turn right.

Continue on about 5 minutes and look for the parking lot. I've attached a photo.

It's about a 30 minute walk back. Sep 2, 2015

Aaron Parlier
Boone, NC

Thanks Ronin, for driving 2,100 miles from your Smoke Hole to climb at Hidden Rocks, and for sounding the alarm for the locals that the crag is closed. Your high speed situational awareness is an inspiration.

It seems like there is some beta listed in the comments about the parking and access. If there is indeed some solid beta for this approach lets post it! Nov 19, 2015

Patrick Manss
Raleigh, NC

Climbed here on Wednesday 1/3/18, the trail is in decent shape and blazed pretty well now. Several had complained that it was difficult to follow, seems to not be the case any more, very moderate approach. From the parking area, take the trail on the right marked with 511, you will cross the creek 4 times and then go uphill for a while before coming to Snowblower on Lower Hidden, the route has two bolts, stair to top of lower hidden about 100ft up on left side of lower. Did not have a lot of time, but climbed a few of the routes here, lots of fun, pretty easy going routes. Will come back and finish the area when I get a chance. There are a few bolted anchors scattered around, and all of them felt good. Would love to see a couple routes bolted for sport. Bomber pro all over the place if you want to practice trad on some short routes. Jan 14, 2018

SICgrips
Charlottesville

Hidden Roofs due to recent development is now by far the best of the Hidden crags. Do yourself a favor and hike the extra 10 minutes past the lower crags - it’s certainly worth the little bit of extra effort. Most all the climbs have bolted TR anchors and most of the climbs are bolted with a couple mixed and trad lines. Sep 16, 2023

Tova Sularz Sularz
Charlottesville

Hi there. I'm new to the area and planning to climb at Hidden Rocks for the first time. I'm curious what the best practice is around rain at this area. I see that it's sandstone in the description. How long do folx generally wait after a good rain to climb? Thanks! Mar 21, 2024