Golder Dome Rock Climbing

Take Oracle Rd. north out of Tucson and turn right on Golder Ranch Road, which is after Oro Valley and Catalina State Park, and just before the town of Catalina. Follow this road until it turns to dirt. Bear right when a sign indicates that the main road is private. A passenger car can do this portion, but it's kind of rough. Eventually, you reach a fence and a sign for F.R. 643. Unless you have a jeep or something similar, it's probably best to park here. Go through the gate and hike the jeep road across the wash and up to the mesa. After about 1/2 hour, it intersects the Sutherland trail from Catalina State Park. The dome is obvious above and there are several ways to get there. One way is to walk up the jeep road a few hundred yards more until it is possible to cut across to a sort of ridge, with some open slabs, that leads up to the dome. This way takes you to the base of Ten Years After. Alternatively, you can take the Sutherland trail back toward Catalina State Park for about 5-10 minutes. A few minutes after crossing the wash and the fence, look for a faint but consistently cairned path on your left. This leads to the far right side of the dome.

The approach took us about an hour from the start of the jeep road.

An alternate approach takes the Sutherland trail 2.5 miles from Catalina State Park until you're below the dome. This is a good approach if you've got a low clearance car or you're heading for the far right side of the dome.