Turtle Rock

Overview

Turtle Rock is another wonderful sandstone crag located in the Callahans climbing area just outside of Roseburg, Or. It is also one of the busiest portions of the Callahans, along with the Near Side and Denial Wall areas on Mind Planet just 100 feet away. Unlike the mostly sunny routes across the way, these routes on Turtle are almost entirely in the shade.

Getting There

If coming from north or south, take Interstate Five to exit# 125 (Garden Valley), take a right(from the north) or a left(from the south) onto Garden Vally blvd and proceed west, then northwest for several miles until you can turn left onto Melrose Rd. Drive for another couple of miles until you reach the Melrose Store. Stay on Melrose road for close to two more miles until you hit Flournoy Valley Rd. Turn right. Drive for nearly five miles to Touchstone Rd. Turn right again. Drive for for nearly two miles (the last 1/3 on gravel) until you come to the gate. Park below the gate if it is open (the gate can close without prior warning, so do yourself a favor and park below it, also, don't block or park too close to the gate). There is parking for ten to fifteen vehicles. Hike up the road to the hairpin curve, where an obvious trail heads off into the trees to the right. Take heed of the various warnings and proceed up the relentlessly steep trail for maybe half a mile to where the trail forks. To the left, the trail will take you to the south side of Mind Planet Rock, but is not used nearly as much as the right trail, which will take you to the very base of Turtle Rock (the area between Turtle Rock and Mind Planet is the main use area). Either way, the last sections of trail are about another quarter-mile, they end up rather close to the same spot, but overall, the right junction is more frequently used and in better condition. In either case, you will end up at the baseline trail, which leads for for nearly a mile in either direction, passing below numerous crags.

Red Tape

Please note, this is Weyerhauser land, and is private property, so we, as climbers, need to take care of this area or we risk having it closed to us. So please, no smoking, camping, polluting of any kind. Now that this area has grown in popularity, we are starting to see more and more poorly buried toilet paper. It's not terrible yet, but it could become that way, so please, bury it deep or pack it out.

Camping

While there is no camping allowed at the climbing area, there are numerous local areas to pitch a tent in comfort. According to Greg Orton's guide, the Twin Rivers Vacation Park has some nice group areas for tents. They can be contacted HERE. or contacted by phone at (541) 673-3811.
Though it is not recommended, there is free, waterless camping on the Bear Ridge portion (north of the climbing areas) of the Callahans, but risk of theft or vandalism runs high.

Weather

Local Weather Conditions HERE.

Routes

Once more using Orton's guide, there are twelve main routes on Turtle Rock, all beginning on the shaded, west-facing side. Variations are possible.
The Routes:
Turtle Soup 5.9
The View From Inside 5.10c
Illusions Of The Shell 5.10b
Turtle Cosmos 5.10b/c
Paradigm Shift 5.9

Turtles In Revolution 5.10d
Tarturum Tree 5.10c
Innerspace 5.10d
Scary Turtles 5.11b
Cracked Turtle 5.8
Head Out 5.11a 2 pitches
Shell Shocked 5.13a

Images

View Turtle Rock Image Gallery - 9 Images