The Best Climbing Spots in the US: A Boulderer's 2026 Guide

I went looking for a decent list of the best climbing spots in the US last week, and the article that kept coming up on page one was written in 2016. Ten years old, and it still lists Squamish as a Northwest highlight — Squamish is in British Columbia. Good rock, wrong country, in a piece literally titled "Around the U.S." Nobody's fixed it in a decade. So here's a version that stays inside the border and tells you what actually changed on the ground: permits that didn't exist then, apps that replaced the photocopied topo in somebody's truck, and which of these places will forgive a first-timer.

The 10-second answer

The best climbing spots in the US, judged by people who mostly boulder: Bishop and Joshua Tree in California, Joe's Valley in Utah, Red Rocks in Nevada, Hueco Tanks in Texas, the Chattanooga sandstone triangle in the Southeast, and Pawtuckaway in New Hampshire. If you want ropes as well as pads, Red Rocks, Yosemite and Rumney carry both, and the Red River Gorge in Kentucky is the country's best pure sport climbing destination. The detail every 2016-era roundup misses: Rocky Mountain National Park now runs a timed-entry permit system in peak season, and Hueco has always required a permit or a paid guide. Either one ends a trip at the gate.

How we picked

We're boulderers, so this leans toward pads and short problems — that's the honest bias up front. But three of these areas are genuinely among the best places to climb in the US regardless of discipline, and we've flagged which ones hold up if you're bringing a rope. What we weighted: range of grades within a short walk, how forgiving the landings are for someone's first day outside, and whether you can actually get in without a reservation you didn't know about.

Northwest: Leavenworth, Washington

The town looks like a Bavarian theme park, which throws people off, but the granite in the surrounding hills is real and it has grown into a legitimate destination since the last time anyone wrote about it. Dry season runs late spring through fall; winter buries most of it. Grades run from approachable slab to hard granite testpieces, so it forgives a first trip as long as you stay off the tall stuff.

California: Bishop, Joshua Tree, Yosemite

California doesn't need our help selling itself, but here's the update worth knowing. Bishop's Buttermilks and Happy Boulders are still the best one-two punch in the state — beginner-to-expert range within a short drive of each other — and Mountain Project and Kaya have mostly replaced the paper guidebook you used to borrow from a stranger. Joshua Tree's boulders run from five feet to a hundred across flat desert; go in winter, not August, unless you enjoy climbing on a stovetop. Expect the grades to feel stiff; our Joshua Tree bouldering guide explains why and where to start. Yosemite's Camp 4 boulders are historic rather than easy — worth the pilgrimage, wrong place for a first outdoor session, and obviously the best climbing spot in the country if you're the one on the big walls rather than the pads.

Mountain West: Joe's Valley, Utah and Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Joe's Valley is still the best all-around desert zone in the region — sandstone, comfortable holds, problems from beginner to expert a few minutes from the car, and three seasons of climbing outside the summer scorchers. Rocky Mountain National Park is the one place on this list where the rules genuinely changed after 2016: for several seasons now the park has run a timed-entry permit system on recreation.gov for peak months, including the Bear Lake Road corridor where most of the bouldering sits. The park sets the dates fresh each year, so check the official page before you book anything — showing up without a reservation is how people spend a climbing day in a parking lot.

Southwest: Red Rocks, Nevada and Hueco Tanks, Texas

Red Rocks is twenty minutes from the Vegas strip and carries world-class sandstone sport and trad alongside the boulders — it's the single best answer to "where can a mixed group all get something out of the same weekend." The boulders sit in Calico Basin, outside the Scenic Drive's October-to-May timed entry system; we wrote up how to plan a Red Rocks bouldering weekend when half your group brought a rope. Hueco Tanks needs planning: it's split into a small self-guided permit zone and a much larger area you can only reach with a paid guided tour. Both have been true for decades; the 2016 roundups just didn't mention it. Book before you fly, not after you land; our Hueco Tanks bouldering guide walks through the permit, step by step. Plenty of climbers will still tell you Hueco is the best bouldering on the continent, permits and all.

Midwest: Devil's Lake, Wisconsin

One of the actual birthplaces of American bouldering, and still underrated because "Wisconsin" doesn't sound like a climbing destination. Quartzite cliffs and boulder fields ring a genuinely pretty lake, and the grade spread is wide enough for a real first outdoor day. Go on a weekday if you can — the state park fills with non-climbers on summer weekends.

Southeast: the Chattanooga triangle

Horse Pens 40 in Alabama, Rocktown in Georgia, and Stone Fort in Tennessee sit close enough together that Chattanooga has quietly become one of the best climbing home bases in the country. All three are roughly the same chunky, fractured sandstone; locals will argue about which is best while visiting all three in one trip. For the amount of quality rock inside a single tank of gas, nothing else east of the Mississippi competes.

Kentucky: the Red River Gorge

If you asked a hundred American climbers to name the best climbing spot in the US and didn't specify discipline, a large share would say the Red. It's sandstone sport climbing at a density that doesn't exist anywhere else in the country, with a season that runs fall through spring and a whole local economy — campgrounds, pizza, gear shops — built around climbers. Bouldering is the side dish rather than the main course here, which is why it rarely shows up on pad-focused lists, including the 2016 one. It belongs on any honest list of the best places to climb in the country. Two hours southwest, the Obed in Tennessee offers the quieter version of the same sandstone, with a fraction of the crowd.

Northeast: Pawtuckaway and Rumney, New Hampshire

Pawtuckaway's glacial granite is scattered through the woods in absurd quantity — dozens of distinct areas, much of it still under-documented compared to what's actually out there. Rumney is the better pick if you want both disciplines in one weekend: it's one of the premier sport climbing crags in the Northeast, and Black Jack Boulders and The Pound give you big rock without a big approach. Both are best avoided in black fly season, roughly May into June depending on the year. Nobody puts that in a roundup. Every New England climber knows it.

Region	Signature area	Best season	Ropes too?	Know before you go
Northwest	Leavenworth, WA	Late spring–fall	Yes	Winter buries most of it
California	Bishop	Fall–spring	Some	Summer is brutal at low elevation
Mountain West	Joe's Valley, UT	Spring, fall	No	RMNP needs a timed-entry permit in season
Southwest	Red Rocks, NV	Fall–spring	Yes	Hueco needs a permit or a guided tour
Midwest	Devil's Lake, WI	Spring–fall	Yes	Weekends fill with hikers
Southeast	Chattanooga triangle	Fall–spring	Nearby	Summer humidity is real
Kentucky	Red River Gorge	Fall–spring	Mostly ropes	Bouldering is the side dish here
Northeast	Pawtuckaway, NH	Summer–fall	At Rumney	Black fly season — avoid it

What to actually pack

None of this matters if your gear falls apart on trip two. A road trip is the hardest test a chalk bucket ever takes: thrown in a truck bed, rained on, kicked under a seat across four states. Full transparency, we make one. The CRACX Ascend is what goes in our own trunk, because if it doesn't survive that, it doesn't ship. Launch price is $49.99 against an $89.99 regular price, with a free brush and chalk ball, free shipping, US only, 30-day returns, and a 2-3 month ship time — so if your trip is next weekend, use what you've got and circle back for the next one. Getting it there in one piece is its own problem; we wrote up carrying a bucket on the approach separately.

• Crash pad — one covers most of these areas, two for Joe's Valley or Hueco
• Chalk bucket or bag that seals, not an open tub rattling around the trunk
• Brush, plus a spare — sandstone eats bristles faster than granite does
• Guidebook app downloaded offline before you lose signal in the canyon
• Permit or reservation confirmation saved where it works without cell service

Quick answers

What's the best climbing spot in the US overall?

It depends what's on your back. For rope climbing, the Red River Gorge in Kentucky is the answer most American climbers give without hesitating. For sheer range in one place, Red Rocks — boulders, sport and long trad within the same loop road, twenty minutes from an airport. For bouldering specifically, Bishop or Hueco Tanks. All three are defensible; anyone who tells you there's one answer is selling something.

Is Squamish one of the best US climbing spots?

Squamish is in British Columbia, Canada. It's excellent, and it doesn't belong on a US list — which is exactly the kind of detail that gets copy-pasted for a decade when nobody checks.

Do you need a permit for Rocky Mountain National Park?

In recent seasons, yes — the park has run a timed-entry vehicle permit system during peak months, covering the Bear Lake Road corridor where most of the bouldering sits. Dates and rules are set annually, so confirm on the park's own site rather than trusting any roundup, this one included.

Which of these is best for a first outdoor session?

Joe's Valley and Devil's Lake have the widest realistic spread from beginner to expert within a short walk of the car. If it's genuinely your first time on real rock, our gym-to-crag guide covers what changes about grades, landings and etiquette, and bouldering grades explained covers why the V-grade on your phone won't match the one in the gym.

— CRACX Co-founder
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Cover photo : Fionn Claydon / Unsplash. Graphics by CRACX.