Long top-rope climbs near Bay Area?

Hi all.

I'm relatively new to outdoor climbing. I've top-roped at Beaver St and Pacifica a lot, but nowhere else. I've been searching on MP for some new TR spots, but the closest ones (Split Rock, Glen Park, etc) seem like < 20 ft climbs. And looks like most/all of them require gear to build the top anchor, and I don't have any gear (yet). Can anyone recommend any Bay Area-ish long TR climbs with anchor bolts at the top? If so, thanks!

https://www.mountainproject.com/area/105733851/san-francisco-bay-area

That is largely dependent on what constitutes "long" and how far you are willing to drive. There is definitely stuff (Castle Rock, Mount Diablo, even Consumnes River Gorge if you're willing to drive a bit - apparently some folks from the Bay make the drive out to there?) but it really depends on what your driving radius is. It may be better to start by looking through the link above (filter by TR) and to go from there. There's also a guidebook for the bay area called Bay Area Rock by Jim Thornberg that has some good beta.

Since you're based out of San Fransisco, I'd recommend looking at Castle Rock and Mount Diablo State Parks. At Castle Rock, two prominent formations with TR access come to mind: Goat Rock (70ft) and California Ridge (50ft). And while I personally haven't been to Mount Diablo yet, the Lower Tier, Boy Scout Rocks (~70ft) has TR access. Keep in mind that you may need long slings/cordallete to set up a top rope properly.

Lots of stuff at Castle Rock. The Falls is a fun 10c that is 110ft long, although the difficulty eases a lot after the first part. 

Jake Messnerwrote:

Lots of stuff at Castle Rock. The Falls is a fun 10c that is 110ft long, although the difficulty eases a lot after the first part. 

Thanks, Jake. I'm having trouble finding The Falls on MP.  Any chance you could point me towards it? 

Eric Metzgarwrote:

Thanks, Jake. I'm having trouble finding The Falls on MP.  Any chance you could point me towards it? 

https://www.mountainproject.com/v/105736052

And just a reminder that both Castle Rock and Mt. Diablo are sandstone, so do not climb after a rain until thoroughly dry.  And to emphasize Michael's point, bring long cordelette, static line, or long lengths of webbing (often 10+ feet) to extend your anchor at those locations, especially Mt. Diablo. Many of the routes have a lot of rope scarring from climbers not properly extending their top rope setup. 

Aquarian is about 90 feet. Cat cliff is pretty long too, 70 feet? Summit rock is smaller, but fun. MT doom is easy & long.

Agree with the recommendations here. Mount St. Helena Bubble and the nearby Blind Man's Bluff are both good.  Bubble lets you walk up to anchors for most but not all the routes.  BMB, somebody has to lead them but both (actually now all 3) rocks at BMB offer a at least one easier lead route to the top to set a TR anchor.   I thought Table Scraps at MSH also required someone to lead one of the easier routes to set TRs, but I somebody recently told me it's possible to walk up around to the top by going climber's right (I haven't actually been to Table Scraps yet).  

Mt. Tam also has some good top ropes--as you've probably read, some of the routes need gear anchors but others you do natural anchors (lasso some boulders with slings/cord).  

Auburn Quarry, most are sport routes but on Scale Wall you can walk up the left to set TRs on some of the routes, but be really careful not to knock down any rocks from the top or you'll injure or kill some poor climber or belayer.  Also some of the Scale Wall Anchors are tricky/dangerous to access from atop--you'd need to anchor yourself to a tree before trying to reach them from above. 

^^ great recs and advice. before you go, you might double check to see that you avoid the peregrine falcons as i think they're starting to settle. and if you go to diablo in the fall and get lucky you can climb alongside tarantulas!