Rock Creek Bouldering
Rock Creek Canyon, above Tom's Place · near Tom's Place · Eastern Sierra
Rock Climbing
At a glance
- Skill level
- intermediate
- Grade range
- V2-V10+ bouldering; 5.5-5.12 roped
- Best season
- June-October - high elevation holds snow into spring; a cool summer escape
Permits and booking
- Permit
- Inyo NF - no climbing permit. Access via Rock Creek Road with fee campgrounds (Big Meadow, Iris Meadow). The upper canyon road closes with snow in winter and spring.
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- No
Rock Climbing detail
- Climb types
- bouldering · trad
- Rock type
- Sierra granite
- Route count
- ~59 boulder problems; 300+ climbs canyon-wide
- Signature routes
- Campground Arete · Weapon of Choice · Welcome to the Iris Slab
- Intl tip
- The cool-weather alternative when Bishop is too hot - it is 8,000 feet, so summer and early fall are prime. The Iris Slab is a superb first-lead granite slab; the Big Meadow boulders are the bouldering core. Camp at Big Meadow or Iris Meadow.
The guide
Rock Creek is the high-country climbing escape - a granite canyon climbing to 8,500 feet above Tom's Place, where you can bould…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Rock Creek Bouldering — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.5101, -118.7143