Podunk

We used to climb at a cliff in Wells State Park near Sturbridge,Ma. Access was from Podunk Rd through a yard with railroad stuff. There were bolted routes but they got chopped. 

Anyone know current access situation?

Thanks!

Hi Tim, Still accessible. You access it from behind, from W. Sturbridge Rd.. I don't have my notes available but I'll try to find them. I know that the trail starts near a telephone pole, but don't remember the number. It is a bit if a walk in, 1/2 hr or so and goes through a couple of swampy areas. You come out on top of the cliff. There is a down climb a little way left ( facing out) though a bit precarious, especially with leaves. I tend to rap in. Decent crag.

Such a great place. We have e discussed it numerous times in this forum in the past. The climbri.org site has the good approach beta that Alan mentions. Put up a few easier routes there from 2012-2014. I don’t believe it falls within the boundaries of the park though.

Also not to be confused with Carpenter Rocks which is in the State Park. Fairly large cliff that was questionable in quality even for rappelling and about 70 feet high. A smaller cliff on the approach trail might offer some bouldering. 

Nice little crag. It's where I learned the hard way how tons of hard work and a fair amount of expense can be wiped out in one drizzly weekend by a secretive dickhead.

The correct URL is https://www.climbri.org/highrocks.htm

Thanks Brian. The chopping of this crag is one of the great crimes against the MA climbing community that has gone more or less unchallenged. WMCC made a small wood kiosk as well which was also vandalized almost overnight. 

Thanks guys.  I am staying in Charlton while my daughter has a baby.  Will head out there as soon as it dries out.  I drove Podunk road and the railroad stuff is gone, so that occupant must have moved out taking that access out.  When things were dry you could actually drive that way to top of cliff.  Agree on the bolts.  My understanding is he who won't benamed has mellowed out do to police and spouse pressure.  Might be time to replace them on down low?

Really fun crag! I agree that having those bolted lines back would make it pretty top notch for a smaller crag. A couple of trad lines to be had there otherwise mostly top roping at the moment. Lots of cleaning with a steel wire brush needed to bring some of those lines back. Who wants to go rejuvenate this place??

Hello Tim, "He who won't be named" has NOT "mellowed out", he has chopped a much needed set of anchor bolts at Pinnacle in CT. this summer. He has been 'no trespassed' from WMCC 'managed' areas in MA. and after being caught and prosecuted at one of them a number of years ago, he has (so far) stayed away from those areas. Unfortunately, for a number of reasons, Podunk is one of a number of areas that is not, and not likely to be in the foreseeable future, 'protected' by the WMCC, so it is a cliff that he frequents and, sadly, keeps 'pure'. As tempting as it may be, please don't bolt there as it will only add to the damage to the rock that has already occurred. Otherwise, frequenting and 'rejuvenating' the cliff is a great idea.   Alan

Drove over there today and found the pole.  There is old logging road nearby that might get you started?  It was way too wet to walk out there.  If it dries out, I am game if anyone wants to go.

In all the time I spent out there during development, I never saw hide nor hair of him. The ancient pitons on the main wall have been traced back to probable practice sessions by the army (they used to leave pitons behind at crow hill as well, in the old days). He never 'frequented' the cliff until after his cowardly act, chopping bolts both at podunk and Ward's Mormon Hollow on the same drizzly weekend raid. If I'd caught him in the act, he'd still be in the swamp, and New England climbing would be that much better off. I'm ancient now, and he's older than I am, so there's hope he'll soon be too geriatric to get to the crags.

As of 2015 he was still climbing pretty strong and I would run into him there on Wednesdays as he was setting up his fixed ropes. I would debate the ethics of chopping his ropes and listening for a thud but ultimately left him to his own devices. We tried from 2014-2016 to replace bolts but they never lasted more than a week. The few routes I added to the cliff ended up being run out trad… would have liked to add a bolt here and there but it would have been a waste. Some real classic routes there. I hope to return someday.

Chris, While there might be different interpretations of the word 'frequents', I can confirm that 'he' did climb at Podunk prior to some of the routes being bolted (and 'he' then chopping them). While he might have chopped at Poduck and Mormon on the same weekend at one point, he actually chopped at Mormon (and Farley, and the Sunbowl, and....) on multiple occasions (as you said, normally on bad weather days) before Ward caught him in the act and we were able to have him prosecuted. These facts don't change anything, he was wrong to chop in any circumstance (his prior visits didn't give him any 'ownership' rights), but it is important to be as accurate as possible.

I loved that place. People really put some effort into creating beautiful climbs. Surprised I still had the "app" tucked in my bookcase somewhere. 

I found this place by chance while mountain biking and found this forum while looking for a map. My apologies if it’s already been described but there is a 100% public route in but it’s about 3 miles and starts at the Wells State Park parking lot. It’s easy biking. I can draw a map if there’s any interest. I was intrigued by this whole thread so I’m happy to help. I should mention that I’ve seen someone with a striking resemblance to the saboteur in the area as recently as this week.

As far as I know the ‘back’ way in ( on foot or bike) is still accessible and significantly shorter than the route you mentioned from the Park—though very buggy at this time of year ( check carefully for ticks).

It would be interesting to know if you did see ‘him’ recently. A year and a half ago he was pretty seriously injured as as result of a solo fall at Bunyan Crag ( another lesser-known MA crag that he historically frequents) and had been laid up for a long time, but it is surely possible that he is now able to be out and about again.

This is like tracking Bigfoot for God's sake.

The old railroad guy was a trip. I remember talking to him for quite a bit about his railroad stuff. It was amazing back then that he let us park in his yard and walk across his property...

Russ Keanewrote:

This is like tracking Bigfoot for God's sake.

There has definitely been less—like zero—actual documented damage caused by Bigfoot.

I know that I should let this go but I saw him an hour ago. Not at the crag but within hiking distance. I had someone with me and said get a good look at this guy because I’m going to show you a picture… The guy holding the drill in the google image search is the person that we saw.

It is amazing that anyone was out at or near Podunk on a wet, ‘soupy’ day before 7am!!!! However, these are exactly the weather conditions during which he conducts his bolt-chopping forays—not expecting there to be anyone else around. However, as far as I am aware, there are currently no bolts there for him to vandalize—maybe he is just practicing his stealth tactics.