Pumpkintown Rock Climbing

A 1990 document from Sean Coburn when he was at the Access Fund evaluated many of the areas on State Park property. It listed a wall named Pumpkintown as a cliff that could have legal access if an access trail was created. This document was brought to Table Rock State Park in hopes of gaining access at Pumpkintown, and it worked! The stipulation that a trail had to be made was still necessary. The CCC began working on steps to build the trail. Many volunteers helped seek out a trail corridor. Through a RTP grant written by the State Park and partially sponsored by the CCC and an Access Fund education grant, two weeks of classes were created to teach State Park personnel and CCC how to lay out a trail and to build them with a machine.

The upper mile of the trail was hand built by the CCC's C4 team and hundreds of volunteers. The C4 team is a group of unemployed climbers hired by the CCC during the Covid-19 pandemic using generous donations from climbers and businesses. The first mile of the trail utilized a mixture of old logging roads from the early 1900s and machine built techniques. The C4 and volunteers also helped with the finish work on the first mile.

Pumpkintown is a SW facing cliff that dries much faster than the Table Rock side. The climbing ranges from ~200-400 feet in height. There are several walls within the Pumpkintown area. The climbing here is less steep than Table Rock and often more well-protected due to it's modern development and climber understanding of fixed anchor rules. The climbing at Pumpkintown is not to be missed! There is a large grade range and it will host over 50+ routes when most of the development is finished.

Thanks to the CCC's continued work with the State Park, this area also has no seasonal closures for peregrines. Please consider being a member of the CCC or contributing to the continued access improvements here and around the region.