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Rifle Mountain Park

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About Rifle Mountain Park:

Rifle Mountain Park is considered by many to be America's Premier Sport Climbing Area (does that phrase need to be trademarked?). Has quite possibly the largest concentration of quality, easily accessible hard sport routes in America on bombproof limestone caves and walls.

SEASON: Spring can be wet from water seeping through rock. Summer and Fall are best. Very easy to find shade or sun. Easily climbable when it's 100 degrees in the town of Rifle, though you may not stick well to the slopers on your 14a project. Locals find good days in the winter. Ice climbing also exists here in winter.

FEES: Parking fee is $4/day and camping is an additional $7. A season pass is available for $40

CAMPING: Free camping available in National Forest north of the canyon. Usually small sites on the side of the road. Explore and you'll find something. Another free option is "The Corral" which is a large flat area on BLM land. Located on road 245 (Grass Valley Road) about 1/2 mile east of intersection of roads 245 and 325. The Corral would be a warmer place to camp than the other spots. There is the pay camping just north of the canyon. Very close to the climbing, you could walk to the Meat Wall from most sites. Very crowded on summer weekends due to use by locals and climbers. Special note: the "dirt pile" camping area used to be a very popular free camping spot but is now closed, locked, gated up.

LODGING: Coulter Lake Guest Ranch is located about 4 miles north of Rifle Park. They have 6 cabins that they rent year-round and a lodge where all of the meals are served. The address of the ranch is 80 County Road 273, Rifle, CO 81650. Phone number: 970-625-1473 and website: www.coulterlake.com.

The areas are listed from the South starting at Sno-Cone Cave through Ruckman Cave.

Nearest town or city: Rifle
Directions: Lies 13 miles north of Rifle, Colorado. Take Route 13/325 north through the town of Rifle and turn onto route 325 at the bowling alley. Drive up through Rifle Gap, past the reservoir, past Rifle Falls State Park and finally you're there when the road turns from pavement to dirt.

An alternate shortcut is available when driving in from the east (Denver). You basically exit at Newcastle and take route 245 to route 325 to the park. Good shortcut betweem the park and Glenwood Springs but may be hard to navigate late at night if you've never done it before. Get a good map or Dave Pegg's excellent guidebook.

Latitude, Longitude: 39.71965, -107.69067
Access Issues:
Camping: Pay
When to Climb:
Quantity of Climbs: Lifetime

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Forum Discussions (9 posts)

  Subject Author Replies Last Post
With Replies New Routes Deibold 1 Jun 29 2007, 7:56 PM
No Replies Is Rifle Climbable yet? cabdog 0 Apr 03 2006, 7:37 PM
With Replies Is Rifle Climbable yet? cabdog 10 Jun 03 2006, 8:36 PM
With Replies Rifle July 4th weekend? moonshine505 1 May 13 2011, 12:06 PM
With Replies Never mind. heather2004 13 Apr 20 2005, 4:11 PM
No Replies Rifle Clean up & Barbecue-Sept. 11 boadman 0 Sep 08 2004, 8:55 PM
With Replies Most popular route in Rifle? socalbolter 4 Sep 03 2004, 8:21 PM
With Replies "Easy" routes at Rifle? nthusiastj 6 Aug 08 2003, 3:29 AM
No Replies Rifle Season? bluesky 0 Aug 28 2002, 12:38 AM