Granite Bouldering near Saint John

Granite bouldering near Saint John, I could hardly believe it. But on Tuesday Cory took Nathan and I to see some newly found boulders west of Saint John. And there they were, salt and pepper granite boulders poked up behind spruce trees just steps from the road.

A scoured landscape - glaciers and forestry.

Fifteen minutes west of Saint John we had left the transcanada and drove north on logging roads into granite country. Under the forests of Southwestern New Brunswick is an expanse of  glacier-worn granite. The boulders in this area were most likely plucked off granite hills as glaciers moved south 10,000 years ago during the Wisconsonian ice age.

These boulders present me with a contradiction...they are in a big nasty clearcut.  But... if it wasn't for the clearcut they would have remained hidden. The thick woods make it very hard to see boulders. So, even though I hate to see it- we owe the boulders to this clearcut.

We drove along the logging roads staring out the windows for boulders, I felt like one of the hunters that you'd see slowly cruising the backroads in October, except we were hunting boulders instead of deer.  We checked out some new boulders, found a few good clusters, and a couple big ones that would probably offer a few decent problems.

Cluster

 

On the south slope, with the full sun and no wind we were sweating as we hiked over the logging slash to get to the next boulder. It's hard to believe that  just a couple days ago I was ice climbing and shivering.

We finished the day by climbing a couple problems in an area where the boulders had already been cleaned up. Just a small taste of what could be a great new addition to the New Brunswick climbing scene.

Whether you're a climber or not, boulders are just plain neat. You don't see many big boulders in New Brunswick and these ones are really worth visiting. You can wander around looking for the next grey shape wondering how these elephants got here.

Cory working a problem

Nathan, Cory, and super dog Rayas

Snowy but warm

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It would be hard to give directions to this place. Drop me a line at [grhmwgh at gmail dot com] if you're interesting in going and I'll do my best to direct you there.  

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