J Park

J U R A S S I C P A R K

Where is it ?

About 200 yards beyond Holy Saturday, on past the trail to Foreign Territory, you will find a boulder stacked about 15' high on the right (E). The trail up to Jurassic Pass and down into Jurassic Park is just past this point on your right. Here you'll find a notable collection of 20 routes, mostly short (50 - 80') but usually adventurous and even testy at the respective grade. JP is seemingly remote, and it was until climbers began to discover its varied climbing as well as the pristine surroundings. Certainly two routes found here (Mud in Your Eye and Lichen Lung) were put in before 1992. They were pointed out to me as I roamed the area with the routes' creator, crackmaster Bob Scarpelli, back then. Incidentally, there was no claim of an area name at that time (see timmet: sorry fella, wrong info). Of course nowadays there are spurious claims of other earlier first ascents, but then why were all other lines literally and physically untouched - packed full of dirt and gravel eroded from above over geologic time, filled with roots and bushes so big no one could have gotten through? Photographs and original notes do exist. At any rate, most lines went in permanently after much work during the early nineties. It was common to see a moderately large cougar who resided here at the time - hmmm, not much people pressure? He'd come out, growl occasionally and sun himself on a flat-topped rock across the little valley, probably salivating at a likely lunch. Naively, we just continued climbing and talked ourselves into thinking "MIKEY" (we named him for Crichton) was our 'friend'. He was seen only occasionally in '94 and very infrequently after that. A cougar of similar size and coloring was reported prowling around the Beaver Pond in the Summers of '01 and '02, but its not known if it was Mikey. As well as being a cool place to hang out, Jurassic Park is a great refuge on really windy and/or cold days. A word of warning: If you hear deep, resonating growling or slurping sounds, it might be a good idea to vacate the area at your earliest convenience. Cougar, Velociraptor, T-Rex .... one never knows.

To the JURASSIC PARK TOPOS

Here's a shot of SECOND ITERATION, Route # 5. The climber is nearing the top bolt and the crux of the climb. Sore-O-Pod, a handjammin' 5.8, # 4, is seen on the left and the top half of CC Left, # 6, is seen on the right. Also note the location of the anchors/rap station at the top of # 6, a convenient tie-in for the belay and rap off.

***FOR MORE SHOTS OF J. PARK, check out this site which has some cool, big photos of trips to Vedauwoo, especially "the Park". Big thanks go to Aran, Amy, Ellen, Curtis and Greg who all tested the routes found here. One correction - the photo entitled "Ellen leading CC Left" is actually the route Sore-O-Pod. The Juvenile Raptor Boulder is seen on the left, and there are bolted lines on either side of the big crack that Ellen is in. CC Left begins about 50' to the right of this big crackline. This is not mentioned in criticism whatsoever, just clarification. Great shots.

Central Vedauwoo