Columbia/Sonora bouldering conditions

Hey all, does anyone know the current status of bouldering at Columbia college? I recently heard that Arboretum/Labyrinth/Waterways are flooded. Are there other areas where it’s dry and good to go? Thanks a lot! 

Disclaimer: I have not been there the last few weeks, but this is an informed guess from visits earlier this winter (shortly after the January floods) and from talking to people who have been recently.

Portions will be flooded, but portions will be dry. Generally speaking, the low lying boulders or those with pits around the base will be flooded, but anything up on a rise will be dry.  

Two spots to consider: If you want really easy boulder (V0-V2), go to the Diggins area by the state park. Big Easy, African Roof, and various other nice boulders around there will all be dry. The Tent City boulder will likely be flooded though. 

For mid grade and harder boulders, the Lower Arboretum will have lots of good dry stuff.  The big meadow will be a lake, and as such the Meadow Boulder and Wonder No More will be flooded, but everything up on a rise will be dry.  Triple Cracks area will be good, Lobster Claw, and all the stuff back toward the Fang and Trogdor is all going to be totally dry.  

Areas deep in the Labyrinth should be mostly dry, but are hard to find and not ideal if you don't know the area wells. The Waterway area will have a mix of dry and flooded boulders; the walk in will likely be wet though. 

Key beta: take a tarp. The bases can be a bit muddy even on the non-flooded boulders. A big tarp to lay out on the base is nice to keep your pads clean, and provide a non-muddy place to stand.

Sue, send Nathan a text, he is bouldering there like twice a week these days. He will know the latest conditions

5-10% of boulders are dry and climbable which is plenty enough to have fun for a day. JCM's beta is on point. 

Ricky Harlinewrote:

5-10% of boulders are dry and climbable which is plenty enough to have fun for a day. JCM's beta is on point. 

That number seems pretty low to me, and I'd wager the percent of boulders dry and accessible is a fair bit more.  That's an irrelevant debate though, since the important point is that there's plenty of dry stuff to get on.

Watch out for poison oak - leaves are probably starting to come out by now?

Thanks for the beta JCM / Cory / Ricky! @JCM your advice to bring a tarp was spot-on.   

We went in yesterday aiming for Labyrinth Main but turned around due to seemingly impassible conditions, so we ended up at Lower Arboretum which had plenty dry stuff for a solid day.

Conditions report (4/9/23) --

• State Park: many of the Stage coach boulders have muddy/wet landings. We did not explore other nearby areas, though Diggins/Picnic boulders seemed drier.
• Labyrinth: attempted approaching via state park side and the deep wading turned us back, despite efforts to detour via higher ground
• Meadows: is now a pond.
• Lower arboretum: the Cave area is muddy, bring a tarp. Triple Cracks, Lobster Claw and everything beyond towards Trogdor/Fang are dry.
• Did not explore: Upper Arboretum, Middle Earth

Labyrinth approach underwater:

Meadows pond:

Cave was a bit muddy, bring a tarp:

I was just in the state park area last week and it was nice over there. Many of the boulders were accessible and the major flood zones had receded back from where they were over winter.  I’m gonna try to visit as much as I can in the next couple months as temps begin to rise.