Cecilville Bluffs Rock Climbing

Cecilville Bluffs is the ultimate diamond in the rough. If you're willing to brave the long, winding drive, poison oak, overgrown trails, and sandbagged routes, you'll be rewarded with some of the most beautiful blue, orange, and yellow-streaked limestone this side of the Atlantic. Cecilville currently has approximately 50 routes, with most clocking in at the 5.10-5.13 range. The walls are numbered from right-to-left, although the Fly Froggie Wall and the Fortress are not part of the main formation.

Cecilville faces south/southwest, with fall to spring being the best time to climb here, and summer being far too hot to climb. There is a voluntary falcon nesting closure from February 1st to August 1st on the left-side walls, according to both "Bigfoot Country Climbing" and "Mt. Shasta Area Rock Climbing". However, falcons may change nesting locations, and the above closure may no longer be appropriate. Basically, if you see a falcon nest, or an extremely aggressive/agitated falcon during the nesting season, consider climbing at a different section of the cliffs.

Free camping can be found at numerous spots on Salmon River Rd. A few miles to the west is Matthew's Creek campground and a number of dispersed spots, and approximately 1.25 miles east is a dispersed camping site down by the river (look for a road heading downhill at that distance when driving towards Cecilville). Don't expect any amenities, cell service, gas, etc. anywhere in the vicinity of the crag.

For more information, see "Bigfoot Country Climbing" by Eric Chemello and Paul Humphrey (the original guidebook), or "Mt. Shasta Area Rock Climbing" by Grover Shipman. The latter has a handful of new routes in it, but borrows extremely heavily from the Chemello/Humphrey guide without really improving on it.