just to the right of 'Slim Jim' and to the left of Mud Puppy on the slanted arete; fun moves to top moving through 'bear hug' to anchors.  This route was originally climb by Mike Bradley and then poorly bolted by Lee Means.  The bolts where quickly removed and retro bolted with secure bolts. This is probably the most frequently climbed route at Cherokee Bluffs.

Salute Your Shorts

Angie's Crack

Girlfriends Arete

Ka-Dunk A-Dunk

Sticky Fingers

Rainmaker

Flight School

A Hard Life

The Crescent

ETC.

Traditional Life

Roof-a-lufagus

Filling In The Gaps

Want Not, Waste Not

Swing Dance

Seams Alright

A Good Life

Book Of Eddy

Stolen

Mono

Read Between The Lines

Wally World

Kid Icarus

Dog Day Afternoon

Give Me A Second

Mud Puppy

Fantastic Four

Muddy Buddies

Lichen Arete

Roof-a-lufagus Variation

Give Me A Minute

Slim Jim

15 feet right of Angie's Crack. Follow three bolt to open shuts. This is probably one of the hardest routes out there.

Large crack running vertically to the left on the same wall as Slim Jim

start far left and stay on/left of the arete. then step over right to TR anchors. to lower if practicing trad lead. or setup top rope off the tree to avoid bad swing if you are top roping off Wally World anchors

Follow three bolts to open shuts. Bolted route on the right side of the cliff line on the nose that has the big over hang that is a few feet off of the ground. It is on the left side of the over hang next to Fantastic Four.  It is recommended that you stick clip the first bolt.  The rock can be slippery.

one of the first climbs you come to when coming from the road. Start left side of overhang of Roof-a-lufagus. 3 bolts going on left side. I would pre clip the first bolt or have a crash pad if you wanted to start under the overhang. probably higher grade depending on where you start.

This route is located on the right side of the main wall area. It is five feet left of the dihedral finger crack (Dog Day Afternoon). Climb over two bolts to open shuts. Water leaks out of the crack by the shuts sometimes. Hence its name Rainmaker. Be sure to have a good belayer because of a potential bad fall onto a tall boulder.

Obvious crack line cliff right of Kid Icarus and cliff left of The Crescent boulder line. 

  Great route for learning trad climbing. Short, multiple gear options, and top rope accessible.

pretty obvious climb just right up the hill from Salute Your Shorts. probably one of the best hard routes at CB. Very techy Newly bolted on 1/19/2018.

Start lower left matched on the sidepull/crimp. Move out right to large horizontal flake. Get good a good foot on the start hold. Move to the small “Crescent” shaped crimp rail. Bare down for a large move to the top or to a lower crimp just below the rail. Get better feet and mantle out. 

 Down climb the corner of scramble down the other side. Named after the crescent shaped crimp on the upper face. A really great problem

just left of the bolts but staying on the face.   Bolted 1/20/18    Good route for beginning lead climbers.

Mental Crux near the bottom when going direct, otherwise sneak by on the left side of the wall on the sport route.

 This route is not for the beginner traditional leader. Micro gear is a must for the first two thirds of the route but is well protected near the top. Not sure when the bolts were removed but stoked to have been able to lead it traditionally. Also, top roping this route with a directional piece in the big crack is an option... If you don't mind using your gear that way.

Start under the obvious roof inside the "V"   traverse over to the right to a undercling and then throw a big move out to the lip. heel hook and another big move to pull the roof. Then some slabby climbing to the anchors.

Crack system on the first "bluff"/cliff. Great beginner Traditional Climb for learning to plug gear. Lots of options and plenty of ways to climb this route. Needs a bit more cleaning. Top Rope encouraged to help with the clean up. 

  27 JAN 2018 - Rainy day cleaning party on Seams Alright turned into a let's clean off this short crack system as well. Afterwards, I felt as if I had taken a mud bath. It is nice to have easier routes at the cliff to introduce new climbers to the sport in an outdoor setting.  This route eats gear and should clean up nicely. The top of the route has a great vertical crack for practice setting up a natural anchor. As well as a rap and top rope welded cold shut bolt anchor.

Sit down start on two crimps right at the quartz layer. Move up to a sloping point and then to a horizontal crimp. Then to good quartz jugs. to finish on a big horn.    A great problem.

I've been eyeballing this route since my first visit to the Bluffs. Very glad I didn't lead it from the ground up. The top was very overgrown and dirty. I cleaned off the top out and clean the face off as well. My intention was to go direct but the wall wants to swing you out left, thus the name Swing Dance. I'm looking forward to working the direct variation and know that it will be hard.

 Gear Anchor in a wide crack above the route

Obvious seam on the first "bluff"/cliff. Scamper your way up the face and arete finding the subtle but bomber gear. Hard onsight but top rope accessible. Still needs a bit more cleaning. Tope Rope encouraged. 

  27 JAN 2018 - I've been eyeballing this line since my first visit to the bluffs. It was a rainy day today so everything established at the bluffs was seeping water. So naturally, I asked Nolan if he would belay me on a ground up onsight and cleaning adventure. We got rained on, I got muddy, but in the end we established what we believe will clean up into a nice traditional route. I wonder what the rating will be when it is clean and not wet?

This route is located in the middle of the cliff line. around the corner from A Hard Life. It starts out with good hand holds and goes to some small crimps. Using the arete on one move helps a lot.

Open book dihedral climbs at 5.6ish to the overhang. Right of the overhang/small roof is a 5.9ish topout. 

 Gear Anchor in a wide crack above route, or walls the huge ledge right to the anchor on Stolen.

Climb left facing wall and using the good holds on the arete. Can start more towards the corner with the crack in the face to the first bolt. Or start more towards the arete because sometimes the lower inside corner can be wet if it has rained recently.

This route is located to the right of Mud Puppy. It is now bolted and the rating is somewhere between a high 5.10 to a low 5.11. The route consists of small crimps and several monos along with a micro undercling and a few slopers. This is probably the most technical route at Cherokee Bluffs. Make sure you walk around and clip the first bolt before you start climbing the fall from the start is not fun. Also make sure you have an experienced belayer.

Starting with two side pulls move up to tiny crimp or match on small sloping shelf. Then move up to the small wide shelf to the left. Continue to the left of the first to bolts for Ka-Dunka-dunk until meeting back up with the route.

start just left of Kid Icarus. almost under the “nose”. move up on to big ledge then work up face right of bolts.    Freshly bolted 1/20/18. This and ETC. are a good climb for people learning to lead climb. May be a little reachy for shorter climbers. Feet are key.

Up the hill far left side of cliff line. Left of sticky fingers and Cresedemt boulder problem.  

  Can scramble up the left side to setup top rope or the same way you get to the top    of sticky fingers to setup toprope 

  Partially rebolted and removed bolts that were left in the rock (Nolan Fulton 1/13/18)

Climb finger crack using face foot holds. Must lie back one section. Bomber pro.Route can be top roped if you don't trad or you can follow the dihedral crack to the shuts that are at the top of the Rain Maker (5 feet to the left).

Really great bouldering problem but may be a long reach for shorter climbers. Start with a low left foot and left hand on the corner and then move right hand out on the corner. continue to bear hug both corners till it gets wider and move to right hand side pull on the face.  Get good feet and climb out the top.

This route is located towards the left side of the cliff line on the back side from Slim Jim. Three bolts and shuts. The one with the mini over hang 20 ft up. Climb the face to the ledge then climb over the roof without going around the arete.

This is the route that is next to Ka-Dunk A-Dunk. Be careful on the third bolt (Bad Fall). Be sure your belayer has mucho experience.  This is probably the most technical route in the area.

Climb the face right of Stolen. Gear is subtle and small but it is there. The climbing is easy and fun. 

  27 JAN 2018 - Prior to this route Nolan and I Cleaned and established Seams Alright and Fill In The Gaps. I literally had just finished climbing and asked Nolan if he would belay me on another sketchy, dirty, adventurous lead. He wasn't too thrilled at first but as I made my way up the face he provided me with plenty of stoke. I am excited for this route to be cleaned as it will add another fun easier top rope route and a challenging traditional lead because of the subtle gear options.

It is located to the left of Ka-Dunk A-Dunk and Fantastic Four, and to the right of A Good Life. The route is located on an arete and has two starting points. The first is to start out on the ground underneath the arete overhang making your way up to the first bolt which rates at about a 5.10c. The second start is to walk around and stand on top of the connecting boulder and lean out to the arete to clip the first bolt then step across to the arete. This rates at about a 5.10a. Follow the arete and the bolts staying on the left side of the arete with a few exceptional moves to the shuts at the top.

start same as Roof-a-lufagus but move to the left and then up to the roof of the obvious crack. Then climb more slabby terrain to the anchors

Sit down start under the small roof.    start on two small broken crimps and move up and find good feet to pull up and mantel.

Cherokee Bluffs is the only sport climbing areas in central Alabama. There has been a lot of progress in making this a better climbing destination for central and lower Alabama in past couple of years. Some of the routes have recently been developed and may need some cleaning. The land was bought by Forever Wild from Alabama Power and climbing is welcomed. Access to the climbing routes is a short hike from the parking lot. Hike the John B. Scott trail or the take the road around the yellow gate south for approx. 800 feet until you come to a post with a climbers logo on it next to wooden steps on your right. Follow the steps up and you are now below Roof-a-lufagus (route #7 on the Topo), currently left side of the cliff line. The rest of the cliff line is on the trail to the right. When you leave please double back to the wooden steps/trail. Please Stay On Trail to Avoid Erosion. Please clean up after yourself. Whatever you take in, be sure to take back out. Please sign the register at the kiosk and write a large C next to your name if you are a climber. Forever Wild would like to know who is coming to enjoy this awesome spot.

Description

Protection

Routes in Cherokee Bluffs