The CragBaby

Little Rock City was one of my very favorite climbing destinations on this road trip. The bouldering area is compact, the sandstone problems quite easy to locate, but mostly there are numerous aesthetic, classic lines.

Best Time to Visit
Little Rock City is a cool weather bouldering destination making the best time to visit when the temps are in 40 – 60′s.

How to Get There

Little Rock City is very easy to locate as the boulders surround the Montlake Golf Course. From downtown Chattanooga head north on US-27. I believe I used the exit for Chickamauga Dam and then followed the signs for the golf course. However, the google map instructions differ slightly and can be found here.

How to Receive Access
Currently only 35 climbers are allowed into LRC daily, with 20 parking passes given out. To climb there, you must do the following:

1. The day prior to climbing, create a log-in on the Southeast Climber’s site.
2. The day wanting to climb, WAKE UP AT 5am (no later!) and log-in to the site. Click “Get a Pass” and state if you need parking or not. (Note: I was visiting the area during Christmas break so perhaps there were more climbers than usual. All I know, is there were days when all the climbing passes were taken by 5:12am.)
3. Park at the furthest side of the parking lot (furthest from the boulders) as this is the climber parking area.

Rumor on the street is the golf course is going to start charging $5 per day per car in 2009. The registration process will still be necessary and supposedly they will not be increasing the number of climbers allowed in daily.

Camping
There is definitely NOT any camping around LRC, but possibly some in Chattanooga. I was fortunate enough to have friends to crash with while in the city. If not as fortunate, it looks like the following campgrounds are located in Soddy Daisy.

Guidebook
There isn’t an official guidebook to the area, but there is a Triple Crown Series comp guide that is available in the club house. I might scan a copy and put it here on my blog, but I don’t have an access to a scanner at this time.

Wi-fi
Internet Access can be found at a handful of locations in Chattanooga. I usually went to GreenLife as their wi-fi is good and they have excellent, healthy food.

Rest Day Activies
Rest days are easily filled with Chattanooga site seeing.

• Tennessee Aquarium – this aquarium ranked as one of the best I had visited in the US. Current cost is $20.
• Walnut Street Bridge – this pedestrian bridge is located on Walnut Street. Take a couple minutes to saunter across as it gives a great view of downtown and the riverways.
• Civil War Sites – Chattanooga was a key city during the Civil War, resulting in many historical sites.
• Restaurants – there are a good amount of great restaurants in Chattanooga. For hamburgers, definitely hit up Tremont Tavern as it is far superior to Hair of the Dog. The best pizza joint is by far Lupis, plus they have a good beer selection. An excellent affordable Italian place is Tony’s in the Bluff View Art District. Good seafood can be found at Blue Water (the lobster mac and cheese is phenomenal!) but it is probably on the pricey side for a dirt bag climber. There is a fabulous authentic Mexican place, the name of which I forget, that is down the street from the sushi joint Hiroshis.

Other
Little Rock City does NOT allow dogs. Most climber simply leave their dogs in their vehicle, walking them in the adjoining field. This seems to be allowed.

If you have any additional beta, please feel free to post in the comments.

December 9th, I left Rock Town and made the hour drive to fabulous Little Rock City. The sandstone problems are aesthetic and compact in an easy to access area.  Little Rock City immediately became one of my favorite destinations visited on this trip.

Keenan, a friend I met in the Red River Gorge, on classic line Tri-Star.  Fun, fun, fun line!

I joined up with the Atlanta crew to work on Dragon Man.  The climb was definitely out of my league… but why not hop on it?  Here John is making a hard move to a small crimp.

Another aesthetic line, Decepticon, located in the Back 9 area.

Instinct was beautiful, but hard!  Perhaps it felt so hard because the day we were climbing it the temps were 30 degrees.  I know bouldering is supposedly best when cold, but I started to lose motivation on this day.

Daryl, pictured here, LOVED the climb Space.  I must admit it was a cool line, but I got nervous the higher up I went.  One day we had a whole crew of 10+ people working on it.  Good times!

Justin, a fabulous artist, sending The Wave.  (You can check out Justin’s artwork here and join his fan club here.) =)

I was fortunate to meet so many great people in Chattanooga.  Prior to hitting Chattanooga I had only stayed in a house on 3 nights, but in Chatty (where the camping is hard to find) I had a place to crash for almost the entire time.  Thank you!  Here are good friends Tommy and Eric sparring with icicles on one freezing cold day.

My all time favorite picture of Eric, chilling in his local pub, Tremont Tavern, after climbing.  Tremont Tavern cooks up the best burgers in town.

I met John and Matt while volunteering on Christmas.  I became good friends with John (in the middle) and joined him a couple times for a night out or breakfast.  Here is part of the Christmas karaoke crew.

I had so many great times in Little Rock City and Chattanooga, that I caught myself having a real hard time leaving.  I finally moved on, making the trek to Horseshoe Canyon Ranch in Arakansas, but would suggest a stop in Little Rock City and Chattanooga to all you readers.