Turkey ROcks & Thunder Ridge & SHeep's Nose CLIMBING

Category: Colorado (South Platte)Elev: ~7,000-8,000 ftRock Type: Granite
Dates: 2019(x3 days), 2020(x6 days), 2022(x1 day)Partners: Doug Hutchinson, JJ Calhoun, Jon Oulton, Giles Eperon, Tom Wright, Nate Arganbright, Nate Mankovitch, Natalie Huey, Nate Arganbright
Trip Report #s: 349, 379, 391(these trip report numbers correspond to the first times I climbed at Turkey Rocks, Thunder Ridge, and Sheep Nose and established this page on my website)

List of Climbs I've Done & Some Photos

Turkey Rocks, Thunder Ridge, and Sheep Nose are three areas of granite cragging in the South Platte. I've put them all on this page, since they are in the same general vicinity, all accessed off of Stump Road/CR-68. 

Turkey Rocks has one of the finest concentrations of crack climbs in Colorado with a friendly southerly aspect and a quick approach. As the same suggests, Turkey Rocks is a collection of rocks, including popular rocks such as the Leftovers, Rightovers, Turkey Rock, The Turkey Perch, and Turkey Tail.

Thunder Ridge — located just north of Turkey Rocks — is a large outcrop of rocks composed of steep and highly-featured "alligator skin" granite. The climbing here is mostly single-pitch, and a mix of trad and sport. 

Sheep Nose (elev 8,832) is the obvious granite monolith located on the drive to Turkey Rocks or Thunder Ridge (just before the road turns off to head to Thunder Ridge). It is hard not to want to climb to the top. Sheep Nose is known for fine delicate face climbs and thin cracks of a non-strenuous nature. There are several routes, with a few of them being fun and popular classics.

Turkey Rocks, Thunder Ridge, and Sheep Nose all face primarily south, although there are some aspects that hold shade as well. For this reason, it is often possible to climb here during the winter, although a four wheel drive vehicle and spikes might be needed to negotiate the snow that is sometimes found on the road and the walk to the base of the crags. The areas are far enough removed from Boulder that they typically are not too crowded.

The first time I climbed at Turkey Rocks was in July 2019, for two short days with a friend from Washington who was interested in a grand tour of some of the climbing areas in Colorado. I had just moved to Boulder and was eager to check out the area, so we included Turkey Rocks in our tour. The first time I climbed at Thunder Ridge was in November 2019, for a single day on a fall weekend trip to the South Platte. The first time I ticked off the summit of Sheep Nose was on a sunny day in January 2020.

On this page, I keep a list of the climbs I've done at each of Turkey Rocks, Thunder Ridge, and Sheep Nose. Below each list, I have random photos from cragging at the respective location.

Table of Contents for this page

Turkey Rocks

list of climbs i've done at Turkey Rocks

Turkey Rocks

photos from turkey rocks

Some random photos from cragging at Turkey Rocks.

Color coded by area:
The Leftovers     Turkey Perch    Turkey Rock    Turkey Tail

(First Trip to Turkey Rocks)

Date: July 5&6, 2019 (Fri&Sat)      Partner: Doug Hutchinson     Climbed at:  Turkey Perch, Turkey Rock, Turkey Tail

I had just moved to Boulder, and my friend Doug from Seattle took the opportunity of me being down in Colorado to plan a 10-day climbing trip to the area. This was a great opportunity for me to check out some of the climbing areas in my unfamiliar backyard with a familiar partner. Due to the unsettled forecast and Doug's desire to acclimatize a bit to the elevation, we started off the trip with a couple of days of cragging in Turkey Rocks. The following gives a list of what we climbed and some photos.

1. Make sure turn left on 360B! We almost missed this turnoff.
2. Approach trail.
3. Property boundary sign. Turkey Rocks is on the boundary of private land.
4. Guidebook page for the south face of Turkey Rock, where we went on our first day. Splitter city!
5. Gobbler’s Grunt (5.9, 3p) at Turkey Rock, our first route.
6. Gobbler’s Grunt (5.9, 3p) at Turkey Rock.
7. Gobbler’s Grunt (5.9, 3p) at Turkey Rock.
8. Gobbler’s Grunt (5.9, 3p) at Turkey Rock.
9. Gobbler’s Grunt (5.9, 3p) at Turkey Rock.
10. Gobbler’s Grunt (5.9, 3p) at Turkey Rock.
11. On top of Turkey Rock.
12. A nice racking up stump below Turkey Rock.
13. Jump Start Pitch 1 (5.9) at Turkey Rock.
14. Vanishing Point (5.10d) at Turkey Rock. We toproped this excellent climb after climbing Jump Start Pitch 1.
15. Vanishing Point (5.10d) at Turkey Rock.
16. Straw Turkey Pitch 1 (5.10a) at Turkey Rock.
17. The Satyr Pitch 1 (5.10a) at Turkey Rock. We toproped this after climbing Straw Turkey Pitch 1.
18. The Fiend (5.9) at Turkey Rock.
19. We should have stopped climbing when we heard the thunder, but we thought we got greedy and tried to squeeze in one more pitch. The thundershower beat us to the top.
20. Yep, its officially raining.
21. And Doug learned a lesson on wearing cotton pants during thundershower season in Colorado. Soaked! 
22. Pretty yellow flowers alongside the trail.
23. Drying out at camp. Also a rare sighting of some stylish red underwear.
24. Drying out at camp. Also a rare sighting of some stylish red underwear.
25. Turkey's Delight (5.8, 2p) at Turkey Tail, our first route the second day.
26. Turkey's Delight (5.8, 2p) at Turkey Tail.
27. Turkey's Delight (5.8, 2p) at Turkey Tail.
28. View to the south. It's a pretty place.
29. Descent from Turkey Tail. The bolts at the top of Turkey's Delight had been chopped so we had to figure out a way off. We went west and downclimbed a short handcrack to a chimney slot which got us to easier terrain.
30. Drumstick Direct Pitch 1 (5.10d) at Turkey Tail. Gotta climb the guidebook cover route! 
31. Drumstick Direct Pitch 1 (5.10d) at Turkey Tail. Nice lead Doug!
32. Drumstick Direct Pitch 1 (5.10d) at Turkey Tail.
33. Drumstick Direct Pitch 1 (5.10d) at Turkey Tail.
34. Drumstick Direct Pitch 1 (5.10d) at Turkey Tail.
35. Turkey Turd (5.11c), another excellent route which we toproped from the anchor above Drumstick Direct Pitch 1.
36. Steppenwolf (5.9). We couldn't help but stop at Turkey Perch and climb one more route as we hiked out.
37. Steppenwolf (5.9) at Turkey Perch.
38. Hiking out. Afternoon thudershowers building to the west.
Date: January 26, 2020 (Sun)      Partner: JJ Calhoun     Climbed at: Turkey Rock
39. View
40. Granite awesomeness on the south face of Turkey Rock.
41. Pitch 1 of Turkey Shoot (5.9, 3p) at Turkey Rock.
42. Crack at end of Pitch 1 of Turkey Shoot (5.9, 3p) at Turkey Rock.
43. Pitch 2 of Turkey Shoot (5.9, 3p) at Turkey Rock.
44. Fun wide climbing on Pitch 3 of Turkey Shoot (5.9, 3p) at Turkey Rock.
45. More granite awesomeness on the south face of Turkey Rock.
46. JJ leading The Straw Turkey (5.10a) at Turkey Rock.
47. Typical chain-style anchor at Turkey Rock.
48. The fun corner of The Eastern Front (5.8) at Turkey Rock.
49. JJ leading The Fiend (5.9) at Turkey Rock.
50. JJ leading The Great White Crime (5.11a) at Turkey Rock.
Date: February 1, 2020 (Sat)      Partner: Jonathan Oulton     Climbed at: The Leftovers, Turkey Rock
51. It can be nice to have an AWD or 4WD in the winter.
52 Winter on the north side, summer on the south side...
53. Okay, maybe a bit wintery at the base too.
54. But the rock is dry! Our first route of the day: Too Much Crack (5.10a), a great 200 foot pitch at The Leftovers.
55. Jon about to launch into the crux of Too Much Crack (5.10a) at The Leftovers.
56. More fun crack climbing (who would have guessed?) on Too Much Crack (5.10a) at The Leftovers.
57. Captain Fist (5.8) at The Leftovers.
58. Captain Fist (5.8) at The Leftovers.
59. The Throat (5.8), a fun chimney at The Leftovers.
60. The Throat (5.8), a fun chimney at The Leftovers.
61. Wide climbing on The Throat (5.8) at The Leftovers.
62. Wintery view.
63. Wintery view.
64. The descents on the north side can be a bit adventurous in the winter.
65. More adventure during the descent.
66. Temperature's Rising (5.9) at The Leftovers.
67. Alive and Kicking (5.9+) at The Leftovers.
68. Mellow Yellow (5.8) at The Leftovers.
69. Little Edward's Little Overhang (5.10b) at Turkey Rock. This route is a lot of fun - better than it looks from below!
70. Chain anchor at top of Little Edward's Little Overhang (5.10b) at Turkey Rock.
Date: March 14, 2020 (Sat)      Partner: Giles Eperon     Climbed at: Turkey Rock
71. Pitch 1 of Southern Comfort (5.9) at Turkey Rock.
72. Pitch 2 of Southern Comfort (5.9) at Turkey Rock.
73. On top of Turkey Rock.
74. Vanishing Point (5.10d) at Turkey Rock.
75. Chopping Block P1 (5.7) at Turkey Rock.
76. Stewart's Crack P1 (5.8) at Turkey Rock.
77. Great White Crime (5.11a) at Turkey Rock.
78. Nighttime Madness P1 (5.7) at Turkey Rock.
79. Brain Cramps (5.9) at Turkey Rock.
80. View from Turkey Rocks.
Date: April 4, 2020 (Sat)      Partner: Tom Wright     Climbed at: Turkey Perch, Turkey Tail
81. Middle: Honkey Jam Ass Crack (5.7) and Right: Left-Handed Jew (5.7) at Turkey Perch.
82. Left-Handed Jew (5.7) at Turkey Perch.
83. Tom leading the Mask of Zorro  (5.9) finish on Reefer Madness (5.8) at Turkey Perch.
84. Ragger Bagger (5.8) at Turkey Perch.
85. Left: Gobble Up (5.8) and Right Steppenwolf (5.9) at Turkey Perch.
86. Tom leading Steppenwolf (5.9) at Turkey Perch.
87. Ready to be gobbled up by the wide crack of Gobble Up (5.8) at Turkey Perch.
88. View.
89. Snowing....
90. Ah, who cares, you can still climb cracks when they are wet. Looking up Bloody Englishman (5.8) at Turkey Perch.
91. Quivering Quill (5.10c) at Turkey Perch.
92. Tom leading Quivering Quill (5.10c) at Turkey Perch. Eleventh pitch of the day, bury lead, and still an onsight!
 Date: October 1, 2022 (Sat)       Partner: Nate Arganbright      Climbed at: Turkey Tail, Turkey Perch
93. Drumstick Direct (5.10d) at Turkey Tail. One of the 4-star routes on the formation.
94. Turkey Turd (5.11c) at Turkey Tail. A fun toprope after climbing Drumstick Direct.
95. Whimsical Dreams (5.11b) at Turkey Tail. Another one of the 4-star routes on the formation.
96. The Great White Crime (5.11a) at Turkey Perch. I've climbed this route a few times, and it is always good.
97. Vanishing Point (5.10d) at Turkey Perch. Another classic.
98. The idyllic housing development below the south side of Turkey Rocks.
99. Colorful aspens. Photo by Nate.
100. Our camp near the Turkey Rock trailhead. Nate and always enjoy a chance to camp out.
101. It's nice to have a dry spot to hang out. It rained in the afternoon/evenings and we ended up only climbing Saturday since we woke up to rain on Sunday morning.
102. We enjoyed a nice campfire.
103.  Hot drink and book by the campfire.
104. Dinnertime! Oatmeal for me, ramen for Nate.
105. Morning coffee in a sunpatch at camp.

Thunder Ridge

list of climbs i've done at Thunder Ridge

Thunder Ridge

photos from Thunder Ridge 

Some random photos from cragging at Thunder Ridge.

Color coded by area:
Alligator Lounge    Brown Wall    Quarry Wall    Wasp Canyon

(First Trip to Thunder Ridge)

Date: November 3, 2019 (Sun)      Partner: Nate Arganbright     Climbed at: Alligator Lounge, Quarry Wall

Climbed here for a single day on a fall weekend climbing trip to the South Platte. I found the climbing a bit reminiscent of City of Rocks climbing. Super fun and high quality stuff. I'll be back for more cragging.

1. We found a nice place to camp shortly up the road to Turkey Rocks. The trailhead for Thunder Ridge was perhaps a 20 minute drive from here.
2. Camp life. I brought my laptop and made an overlay for the day's climbs of Center Route and Wunsch's Dihedral at Cynical Pinnacle (located about an hour from Thunder Ridge area, also in the South Platte) and then got some math homework done as well. Nate had an awesome setup with a canvas tent, cot, and propane heater. I was jealous. But he had nothing on my down booties....
3. The parking area for Thunder Ridge.
4. The approach to Thunder Ridge involves walking along a private road. You will know you are on the right approach if you just follow the signs. 
5. Approach.
6. Approach.
7. Approach.
8. Approach.
9. Approach.
10. Approach.
11. Approach.
12. Approach.
13. The turnoff to Thunder Ridge after the private road. Whew, we didn't get shot and we live to climb another day!
14. Alligator Lounge, our first destination.
15. Let's Do It Again Daddy (5.8) at Alligator Lounge. Super fun featured rock and a great warmup climb for the area.
16. Optical Illusion (11b) at Alligator Lounge. A good climb, but no longer a chill warm-up. Expect some spicy climbing and DFU terrain on this one.
17. The climbing on Optical Illusion was made even spicier by the bee's nest in the corner just left of it.
18. The Slot (5.9) at Alligator Lounge. Fun, varied climbing.
19. Nate launching into the first pitch of Evil Genius (5.10d) at Alligator Lounge. More great climbing. 
20. First pitch of Evil Genius (5.10d) at Alligator Lounge.
21. Second pitch of Evil Genius (5.10d). Definitely worth climbing this second pitch, which is excellent.
22. View out from Alligator Lounge.
23. View out from Alligator Lounge.
24. A cool "autolith" (definition of autolith: a fragment of a previously crystallized portion of rock enclosed in material from the same magma which solidified later).
25. Quarry Wall, where we climbed a few pitches before leaving to drive back to Boulder.
26. Nate starting up 5.8 My Ass (5.9) at Quarry Wall. Appropriately named!
27. Thunder Ridge photo, taken on the hike out.
28. Hiking out. I don't think you'll be shot by a sign-happy landowner if you stay on the road. =)
Date: January 19, 2020 (Sun)      Partner: Nate Mankovitch     Climbed at:  Brown Wall, Wasp Canyon
29. Someone straightened all of the signs!
30. I like this one. Another good one would read "Due to the high price of ammunition, there will be no warning shot."
31. A nice morning stroll.
32. Our first climb of the day: Reptile at Brown Wall. Tied with Zorro for my favorite route of the day (and at Thunder Ridge so far).
33. Reptile Tears, an awesome extra 30 feet of steep patina to tack onto the end of Reptile. Brown Wall.
34. Nate M. leading up Zorro, a climb with great position along the edge of the patina on the arete. Tied with Reptile for my favorite route of the day (and at Thunder Ridge so far). Brown Wall.
35. We found a crack! On Stegosaur. Brown Wall.
36. Second pitch of Stegosaur. Brown Wall.
37 The start of The Schaumasser Traverse. Brown Wall.
38. To get an extra pitch and because patina jug hauling is a blast, I soloed up the 5.5 route Stegamite on the outside of this big boulder. Brown Wall.
39. We couldn't resist more patina jugs, so we stopped to climb W.A.S.P and Wasp Me on the hike out though Wasp Canyon.
40. Thunder Ridge glowing in the late afternoon sun.
41 Hiking out after a great day of climbing.
42. Who needs a spoon when you have a nut tool?

Sheep Nose

list of climbs i've done at Sheep Nose

Sheep Nose

photos from Sheep Nose

One short trip report for first time climbing at Sheep Nose.

Lost in Space (5.9, 3-4p)

Date: January 25, 2020 (Sat)     Partner: Natalie Huey

Lost in Space is of the most popular routes up Sheep Nose, climbing cracks and corners and knobs directly up the southeast buttress in 3 to 4 pitches of fun and moderate climbing on beautifully featured rock.

If the content appears to be truncated here, you may need to put your cursor in the region of text above the red line and scroll down to see more!

Other photos from Sheep Nose

Some random photos from cragging at Sheep Nose.

Date: January 25, 2020 (Sat)     Partner: Natalie Huey    Climbed at:  Sheep Nose
1. Ten Years After (5.8) climbs the obvious corner.
2. Looking up the corner of Ten Years After (5.8).
3. Natalie climbing the fun corner of Ten Years After (5.8).
4. Natalie climbing the fun corner of Ten Years After (5.8).
5. Toproping Seamus (11a) just right of the corner of Ten Years After (5.8).
6. Couldn't resist climbing up the handcrack of Evening Stroll (5.7).
7. Natalie climbing Chinook (5.9+) just to the left of the handcrack of Evening Stroll (5.7).
8. Yeah, we sort of asked for this....

previous and next adventures

(July 2019: First time cragging at Turkey Rocks)
(November 2019: First time cragging at Thunder Ridge)
(January 2020: First time climbing at Sheep Nose - Lost in Space)