Spring 2015 update

I covered 95 miles on foot this winter and added 43 more boulders to the site with some near 20 feet tall. Bringing the crag / boulder count to 236. Most of the new boulders added are around Liberty Lake and have some of the longest approaches in this blog. Liberty Lake is Baltimore City watershed property and swimming is prohibited. Climbing is also prohibited but no climbing issues have come to my attention nor have I seen it posted anywhere. It seams the intent of this law was to keep people off the dam and rock that forms the sides of the dam, however that’s just my irrelevant view of it. I advise everyone keep a low profile while on Baltimore watershed property keeping climbing gear in a pack and out of sight. Here’s what’s new from North to South. On the north end of Liberty Lake In-between Rt 140 and Deer Park rd are 21 boulders with a few near 20 feet tall, some of which loom over the water. At the Lake and Rt 32 heading East are 5 boulders in the 12 to 15 foot height range this is the branch of the lake created by Morgan Run. To finish up with Liberty three more boulders were added just south of the Dam, the new JJ Boulder is worth checking out along with the existing KK and CC boulders. John Brunson and Ryan Jones located the “Grimhold Boulder” near Freedom Park Sykesville along the railroad and have established a few lines there. East of Woodstock around Fox Rock Quarry I add 7 boulders and some of them are granite. Near Cascade falls / Bloede Dam area four more outcrops were added, Carpet Rock, Eggbert, Green Monster, and Crusades. In the City at Leakin Park I turned up an unappealing old quarry named Barrier Cliff. Finally to warp up this winter’s rock hunt with a new area containing five mediocre boulders in Hawlings River state park just south of Triadelphia Reservoir. I’m happy to change things if there is reason too, like color of the place markers or even the name of a crags, obviously I’m not the first to come across all these rocks. If you find your group of friends climbing frequently at a crag that’s marked in red or blue let me know so I can update the map for the climbing community, particularly if the crag has been cleaned up and has become more accessible to climbing. I enjoy hearing that people are adventuring out to all these places. John Kelbel