San Francisco Wash Bouldering

San Francisco Wash is a large drainage with intermittent canyon sections found off in the cinder lands east of Flagstaff. Both sandstone/limestone and basalt are present at different points throughout the wash. However, it is the basalt that really captures the eye. If you are into exploratory bouldering and no name problems, this will warrant a look see first hand. Especially when everything else in Flagstaff is wet. There are scores of undocumented problems.

I believe Turkey Tanks was first developed by Albert Newman and the late Matt Kelly in the early to mid 90’s. I remember Albert telling me how they had to dig dirt out of all the pockets to make the lines climbable. The Gizzard is a small amphitheater of basalt just up canyon from Turkey Tanks and was developed in the late 90’s by Mike Gasch, Mathew Severson and others. Steep, probably dirty problems line the entire wall. This seldom visited area will delight the adventurous boulderer who doesn’t mind cleaning lines with a short rope first. The Short Rope Wall has very limited info, though it was rumored that Rodman used this area when he lived in the area. Some anchor bolts in very weird places have been used as target practice by local firearm enthusiasts for the last decade. Other more modern problems can be found interspersed throughout the wash down canyon from Turkey Tanks and are approached by different FS roads.

Also home to the Barrio, which is a small sandstone/limestone sport area which offers up maybe two dozen lines. The rock quality is dubious overall on these 40'-50' lines. The hardware too looks mostly suspect.