RRC Archives

good luck with access! chattanooga is too far away...

doogievlg wrote:

rastaman wrote:Re: Laurel Lake

Don't bother. Due to record breaking rainfall all the good stuff is under water. Typically everything will be underwater from around April to July, but this year is a different story. Hopefully the water will recede before spring rains and there will be some Laurel bouldering to be had this season, but I'm not optimistic. Probably will have to wait till next fall...

I heard a rumor about someone getting hurt pretty bad while jumping off the 3 sisters this year....does anyone know if this is true. what would be the best dock to launch from to get to the best climbing on the lake.

Dont' know about the injury at 3 sisters. Grove is the closest marina to the bouldering. Go right by boat out of the marina. But like I said most of it is under water right now. You may be able to find some stuff in the hills, but it isn't stellar.

Laurel lake is close enough to Big South Fork---there's epic adventure to be had on those cliffs. I've backpacked there a few times recently, and it easily dwarfs the red in both the density of cliffs & the sheer size of them. Makes me salivate...

toad857 wrote:Laurel lake is close enough to Big South Fork---there's epic adventure to be had on those cliffs. I've backpacked there a few times recently, and it easily dwarfs the red in both the density of cliffs & the sheer size of them. Makes me salivate...

Salivate? It gives me a stomachache. Stay in the Red River Gorge, everybody. The Big South Fork is too crowded and there really aren't that many cliffs. They aren't very tall anyways. Just look at a topo map -- nothing to see down there. No pizza around there either. And the approaches are BRUTAL. You might walk for an entire half-hour just to get to the cliffline. Avoid at all costs.

blocky choss

well, they're definitely taller than the average RRG cliff. rock quality seems about the same, too. but the approaches are definitely in the "expedition" category.