Bouldering at Castlewood Canyon State Park

Skill Level: V0 to V10 (Beginner to Advanced)
Quality: Mixed results, some areas are amazing while others aren’t

Description:
Castlewood Canyon is located southeast of Denver near the city of Castle Rock. This canyon offers a variety of bouldering for the beginner to the V10+ climber. The best part about the canyon is that it rarely has climbers at the places you want to be and due to its large size you are constantly coming across new problems and awesome areas.

Bottom Line:
This place will tear up your fingers but the amazing scenery and outdoors/wilderness setting that is located close to DU is unmatched. 

Directions:
There are two entrances for Castlewood a West Entrance (Back) and an East Entrance (Front).
Back:  
Take I-25 South for approximately 20 miles to the Founders Parkway Exit (Exit 184) in Castle Rock. Take this exit and proceed East (left). Follow the Founders Parkway for about 4 miles until you come to HWY 86, go East (Left) at the light. Follow HWY 86 for around 4 miles until you see a road on the South side (right) that says Castlewood Canyon Rd. Follow that road in and pay at the booth ($5/ day or $55 for a season pass).
Front:
Same as above, however on HWY 86 do not turn onto Castlewood Canyon Rd.. Continue past the turn-off until the small town of Franktown, go south (right) at the only light in town. Follow this road (HWY 83) until you see the entrance on your right side.

Driving Time:
Since you drive through the Denver Tech Center avoid rush-hour times when you are coming back to DU. Also on the way in it can be pretty busy if you go during rush-hour. Driving time is around 30-40 minutes.

Recommended Time of Visit:
If it has been nice in Denver then it will be nice in Castlewood canyon. It is common to visit this place throughout winter to take a break from skiing. During weekdays you might often find yourself alone in this canyon and during weekends it is usually not crowded.

Chris Storms Working on Punani (V8)	Laura at Little Buddha Cave (front entrance)	Ryan on Lip-Traverse (V3-4), Classic Problem	Hiking in snow, a common practice in C-wood

The Boulders:

Fountaine Bleau Boulders
After entering through the Back entrance drive past the ranger’s station on the right and continue to go until the road turns to dirt. Follow this until you see a small parking area on your right side, this is the Climbers Trail. Follow this trail up towards the near cliffs, once you get to the cliffs head right and follow the trail until you reach an area with multiple boulders (10 min hike). There is a lot of top-roping on these cliffs as well.
            The several boulders in the area offer a lot of intermediate climbing V0-V6 in a beautiful setting. Cave Direct (V6) is the most difficult problem in the area which is the overhung problem in the cave on the backside of the first boulders. Also the lip-traverse is a classic V3/V4 problem.

Front Entrance Boulders: Buddha and Berthoud Caves
Follow the directions to the front entrance of the park (south entrance). Take the Inner Canyon Trail from the main parking lot down into the canyon. Hike along this trail to the Northwest; along the way you run into several boulders including Phallic Rock (you will understand when you see it).
This collection of problems is the furthest from the parking lot and takes about 15 minutes to hike all the way in, but it offers the highest concentration of boulder problems from steep cave lines to very beginner problems. Hike until you reach a relatively large meadow with some massive chunks of rock in the middle of it, walk to the other side of the meadow where the trail starts to meet more brush. Look for a slab rock or any small trails, start hacking your way up the hillside until you reach the cliff.
            What you should come across is a large boulder (Little Buddha Boulder) separating a serious cave on it’s left (Berthoud Cave) and a easier cave on its right (Buddha Cave). This spot is well above the valley and offers warm sunshine and a little seclusion from the trail. Enjoy the numerous lines in this area from a bunch of V0-V5 in the Buddha cave, to The Crystal Method (V9) on the Buddha Boulder, to many steep problems in the Berthoud Cave. Great place to hang-out and the stream is not too far to cool off in during the summer heat.
            The front entrance has a lifetime work of problems, be sure to check out Colorado Bouldering 2 guidebook for detailed information on the other spots in the inner canyon.

Other Areas Work Checking Out:
Castlewood is a very extensive bouldering and sport climbing area. There are so many spots throughout the entire canyon that you can spend many years exploring this canyon and you will still find new problems that immediately become classics. Enjoy this unique canyon and check out these other resources to understand more about the canyon.

Additional Resources:
Castlewood Canyon State Park- the official website
Mountain Project.com Castlewood Section- Online guidebook with lots of beta
Colorado Bouldering 1- Hot spots all over the canyon
Colorado Bouldering 2- The whole innercanyon covered
Front Range Bouldering- More awesome hotspots