Rocktown (Georgia)
28 de setembro de 2023, Estados Unidos
There are three famous sandstone areas near Chattanooga: Stonefort (Tennessee), Rocktown (Georgia), and Horse Pens 40 (Alabama). Of course, there are hundreds of smaller areas, but these three somehow made it into separate guidebooks, and everyone we met asked us if we were going to visit all three. Well, we had all three guidebooks on hand, but we realized that we should spend the week we had planned for the Chattanooga area on two areas instead of three, so we dropped HP40.
Rocktown is about 1.5 hours from Stonefort. The last few miles are a terrible road uphill into Crockford-Pigeon Mountain Park.
We arrived just before dark. The campground is very close to the trailhead that leads to the boulder field, so we expected a lot of climbers at the campground. We were really hoping to get a spot on a free campsite next to such a famous bouldering area. Well...we were lucky...the campsite was completely empty. It was pretty spooky.
We built a campfire and grilled vegan sausages for hot dogs and corn over an open fire under a full moon. It was delicious.
In the morning we took a shower under a very old oak tree that had dropped a lot of acorns on our car during the night... Then we went to the area. The first sector is called "The Orb". It contains several impressive boulders with great lines, one of which is the problem of the same name "The Orb", V8, which I was able to check off the to-do list.
Next on our list was the boulder "Golden Harvest", which is 20 minutes deeper into the forest. It is one of the most iconic boulders in the southeast and contains two five star lines: "Golden Harvest, V10, and Golden Shower, V5. The perfect boulder for Birte and me! We both had a project there! After an hour I was standing on "Golden Harvest" and Birte had made some very promising links on "Golden Shower".
At the boulder we met Nathaniel, who had climbed the V5 a few minutes before we arrived. He stayed with us for an hour and then showed us around. Together we went to the "Sherman Photo Roof" where I was able to climb the namesake line (V7) and the line next to it: "Nose Candy", V6. It was a very nice and successful day! Thank you Nathaniel for a great afternoon!
The next day we went back to "Golden Shower" and Birte finished the previous day's project! 💪🏻
Rocktown was great. We discussed which area we preferred, Stonefort or Rocktown, but we both couldn't really lean towards one or the other. Stonefort is very convenient but crowded and commercialized, Rocktown on the other hand is the opposite, but the road is rough and the rocks are a bit more spread out. The rock is similar to Stonefort, but there are a lot more roofs, a bit like Albarracin, some top-outs on the other hand are almost like in Fontainebleau! You can even find some typical Fontainebleau shapes in Rocktown!
We can definitely recommend both areas to anyone thinking of going there. It is amazing. We wish we could have visited HP40 as well...Leia mais
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