You don’t have to travel far beyond St. Louis to find rugged rock faces, challenging crags, and repurposed quarries waiting to be scaled. Whether you’re an experienced climber or a beginner eager to explore new heights, there are a variety of fun, challenging rock-climbing destinations only a short drive from the city. With the proper equipment and training, a day at any of these parks is an opportunity to experience the beauty of the outdoors from a new vantage point.
Elephant Rocks State Park
7406 Highway 21, Belleview
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Scores of pink pachyderm-shaped granite rocks dot the topography of this state park, located approximately 90 minutes south of St. Louis. Visitors travel from across the Midwest to try their hands at bouldering, a type of climbing that’s typically done without ropes and takes place no more than 20 feet from ground level. Climbers of virtually all backgrounds can find “problems” (the moves required to reach the top of a boulder) suited to their skill levels. Many of Elephant Rocks’ best boulders can be found in the park’s picnic area, located just off the parking lot.
Pere Marquette State Park
13112 Visitor Center Lane, Grafton, Illinois
Climbing is one of the many outdoor activities to be enjoyed at Illinois’ largest state park. If you’re heading east on State Highway 100 toward Grafton, you’ll find the designated climbing area just past Brussels Ferry. The limestone walls feature more than 60 routes, including several that are manageable for beginners. Novices gravitate to Boy Scout Cove, while more advanced climbers might enjoy the challenging routes along the Lily Wall, including Dietsche Legacy Ladder, The Great River Road, and The Tallest Man.
Robinson Bluff
10750 Bo Hollow, Cadet
This climber’s wonderland, an hour south of St. Louis, provides more than 200 sporting routes and boulder problems. A grand staircase splits the two areas into north and south sections. The north portion features many of the more interesting routes, including the breathtaking Picasso Wall (a polychromatic palisade that draws its distinctive colors from oxidized minerals in the rocks) and the Red Dihedral (featuring several crowd-pleasing moderate routes). A day pass is $10.
Rockwoods Reservation
2751 Glencoe, Wildwood
This limestone quarry is the first climbing area overseen by the Missouri Department of Conservation, which manages the crag through a partnership with the nonprofit BETA Fund. With its diversity of climbing routes and proximity to the metro area, Rockwoods is one of the most popular spots in the area for climbers. Climbers can choose from more than a dozen routes, including walls and boulders. Members of the BETA Fund, which works to protect and conserve climbing areas in the Midwest, helped create each of the routes prior to the area’s opening in 2021. The climbing space is free and open year round. Parking is limited, so consider carpooling.
Washington State Park
13041 MO-104, De Soto
Compared to Rockwoods, which is great for intermediates, Washington State Park has a bit more for advanced climbers—and has lured them for decades. Gone are the days when the OGs would sneak into the back of the park across a rickety bridge over the Big River: Now you can walk along a park-approved trail for about 15 minutes to arrive at more than a dozen sport routes, bolted by the Beta Fund. These include the locally famous “tangerine,” so named for the rock face’s striking orange hue. True, a lot of Midwestern limestone is trash, says Ian Anderson, Climb So iLL’s operations director, but WSP is “a real underground gem.” And it’s only about an hour’s drive from Forest Park.
St. Francois State Park
8920 U.S. Highway 67 N. Bonne Terre
St. Francois was one of the first state parks in Missouri to formally allow rock climbing. Known for its sharp limestone, the crag is accessible: It’s a five-minute walk from the parking area and the waiver kiosk is conveniently located there, thanks to the efforts of the Eastern Missouri Climbers Association, which has also recently put in permanent anchors. There are multiple top-rope and sport routes on offer here, as well as many boulders, including one that EMCA co-founder Nick Richards says no one has been able to conquer, as far as he knows. “It’s probably a V10,” he says. “If someone could go send that guy, that would put some real hard climbing really close to St. Louis.”
