Bear Creek Canyon Rock Climbing

This is a wild and precipitous canyon that drains into the Uncompahgre Gorge along US Highway 550. The Bear Creek Trail accesses this canyon and, after gaining some elevation, follows a precipitous route along the contact point of the 1.7 billion-year-old Uncompahgre Formation quartzite and the tuffs and volcanic conglomerate of the 30-million-year-old San Juan Formation.
There is plenty of old mining history and remains in this canyon. The most profound object is a large steel boiler at the Grizzly Bear Mine. Story goes, it was trucked in from above via the Engineer Pass Alpine Loop Road and then brought down to the site. You’ll be wondering how it got there when you see it. The mine shafts/adits across the canyon from the Grizzly Bear Mine were accessed via a wooden staircase and bridge. The bridge was burned down by the owners for liability reasons, and the staircase has rotted away and fallen into the gorge.
This canyon is home to a number of ice climbs, but Bear Balls is the first recorded rock climb that I’m aware of. I did hear a story once about some folks climbing rock in the canyon, and I assume it was up the gully of the Solar Circus ice climb (about 1,000’ right of Bear Balls), but I am uncertain on that detail.