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Old Castle Rock Climbing

Climbing Area Map

Areas in Old Castle

Dihedral Wall, The 3 / 0 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 5

Lions Den, The 1 / 0 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 3

Main Wall (aka The Gorilla Head Buttress) 6 / 1 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 8

Old Castle Bouldering 0 / 0 / 0 / 5 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 5

Ribbon of Rock Crag 1 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1

Slabs, The 4 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 4

Wild Wild West, The 9 / 0 / 3 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 12

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Use onX Backcountry to explore the terrain in 3D, view recent satellite imagery, and more. Now available in onX Backcountry Mobile apps! For more information see this post.

Elevation:	606 ft	185 m
GPS:	33.2525, -117.12329 Google Map · Climbing Area Map
Page Views:	64,675 total · 448/month
Shared By:	Joshua Reinig on Apr 1, 2014 · Updates
Admins:	Mike Morley, Adam Stackhouse, Salamanizer Ski, Justin Johnsen, Vicki Schwantes Page Updates (admin only)

See Weather Forecast

Access Issue: This great North County Crag is located on the boundary of partial lots for sale, private property and public land. Details

Due to its location Old Castle Crag is around private lots of land primarily old avocado groves. As of now current land managers have no issues with access to this Crag. Respect land owners keep a low profile and most importantly clean up any trash, you pack out what you pack in. Thanks and Enjoy.

Description

Old Castle Crag is one of the finer and lesser-known climbing areas in north county San Diego. Rock type is bomber orange San Diego granite, some similar attributes as Mission trails but probably more similar quality to El Cajon Mountain. Primarily a traditional climbing area with loads of splitter lines. Some recent sport development has been done. Cliff is south facing with little shade and gets a lot of sun year around. Definitely gets warm during summer months but cools off nice in late afternoon.

Getting There

From the I-15, exit Gopher Canyon/Oldcastle Road. Follow Old castle Road approximately 2 miles east, until road starts to wind uphill. Cliff will be located on the hillside to your left, north side of Old Castle Rd. Before the road starts to go uphill you'll see a call box located on the left side of the street, north side of Old castle Road. It is possible to park at this turnout or anywhere along the side of the road in this vicinity. From call box turnout walk east ~365 yards to (2nd) largish Oak tree growing off north side of road. From here follow unmarked trail ~100 yards uphill to a large dirt lot/pad. Shoot for large Bouling pin Boulder and head right/east to find dirt pad. Or better to start farther East at a gate slightly West of Pamoosa Ln to a nice trail to the dirt pad. From here a decent established trail switchbacks up the main weakness taking you to the right of the cliff, follow Karnes, do not trundled down ravines.

Somewhere in this vicinity lies the legendary and infamous Steve McQueen Boulder!!!

38 Total Climbs

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Classic Climbing Routes at Old Castle

Mountain Project's determination of the classic, most popular, highest rated climbing routes in this area.

V2 5+ 9 ● Cracker Jack Boulder Old Castle Boul… > Lonely Tree Boulder
V5-6 6C+ 9 ● Indian Cave Traverse Boulder Old Castle Boul… > Steve McQueen C… > Indian Cave Boulder
5.7+ 5a 15 V+ 13 MVS 4b 14 ● Bemo's Corner Trad 2 pitches Dihedral Wall
5.9+ 5c 17 VI 17 E1 5a 15 ● The Transmigration Corner Trad Dihedral Wall