Does anyone know of a legal place to land close enough to climbing at the City of Rocks, Idaho?
Oakley is about 20 miles away, so a bike would be necessary to get to the climbs, but is there anything closer?
Also how safe is it to leave the plane at an unattended airport like Oakley?

I looked it over a few years ago to do just that. You'd need permission to land on private property or use one of the access roads leading in, but obviously, stay out of the park boundary. The roads are not great LZ's, but it depends on what you're flying. I think Oakley would be a safe place to leave a plane for a few days.

Why not just land in Burley and rent a car or buy a ride?

Back when spraying was done with very slow airplanes that had to load close to get through the acres, the loader was always your best diplomat for obvious reasons. He spoke police, he spoke fireman, and he spoke calmly to angry hobby farmers.

I think you'd be fine leaving a plane in Oakley. If you're really concerned, my cousin's company owns the two hangers on the field and, the last time I heard, they are both empty. I could give you his contact number and you could talk to him about putting your plane in while you are there. It would be a pretty good haul on a bike. Burley is only 20 miles from Oakley and has all you need.

And as Mike said, just stay out of the park boundaries. It's kind of sad. I grew up with that area as just BLM land but that has long since changed.

I wish. Let me know if you come up with anything...

Yeah, Burley is definitely the stand by.

I was just hoping to find a fly to a climb destination...

What climbing grades are you looking for? Lander's Hunt Field is supposed to be close to Sinks Canyon (3 miles, according to Google), Boulder has a nice airport, and both Shelf Road and Rifle are within a short drive of airports.

AKclimber wrote:Yeah, Burley is definitely the stand by.

I was just hoping to find a fly to a climb destination...

You looked around Maob, UT? There are two places I want to go back and climb down there. Both are on BLM land with pretty good access roads; I sure there are others.

Also, LaGarita Creek airport is within an easy 1 mile hike of Penitente canyon.

Have you looked at Ibex? Park and camp at the base of the climbs. I'm not a climber but I believe it's got a wide range of levels of climbing. It's also a great place to camp!

Ibex is a bouldering area with maybe 30 established problems. Good for an hour or two. If you camp near the main boulders, expect company.

http://www.mountainproject.com/v/bouldering/108067910

We've been there several times and never had more than one other car there. Probably 60/40 chance of being alone. I'm sure times of the year and week play into it.

This has turned into a fun thread - fly to climb destinations.
I've flown to climb in Utah and it's great!
Mexican Mountain was a great place to fly to climb as are many of the other strips in the area.
A bonus is that you won't see any other climber since it's mostly adventure climbing as I don't think there are any established routes there.
So you just pick a line and go for it.

I flew to Placerville (amphib) and climbed "Lovers Leap" with Hans Flourine. Need to find the pictures.

Then took Hans on his first seaplane ride at Folsom Lake.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lover%27s_Leap_(Tahoe,_California)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Florine

I think chosstranout had a thread about fly to climb destinations...

8GCBC wrote:I flew to Placerville (amphib) and climbed "Lovers Leap" with Hans Flourine. Need to find the pictures.

Then took Hans on his first seaplane ride at Folsom Lake.

Wow! That's just too cool! Talk about having a rope gun along!
Do share pics!

Lovers Leap October 2009 (Hans Flourine and Ted);

Here I am following with the pack after Hans:


Scout at Placerville, California:


Me, using Petzel Accenders:


Hans Flourine:


Fresh Snow in October!

Hans cut his hair and stopped wearing lycra! And wearing a shirt, too? I don't think I've ever him with a shirt on!

Man I'm gettin' old!

As far as climbing near airports. It's very very hard to beat Mammoth Lakes airport. You need to rent a car - but there's a lifetime worth of climbing in the eastern sierra. From bouldering at the happy boulders, to the Owens river gorge sport climbing to the multitude of high alpine trad adventure. It's all there. And then, there's Toulomne and the Yosemite Valley.

City of Rocks is a fun playground. I've not been in 15 years but would love to get back there...

I'll be in Thailand in 2 weeks to pull on some limestone in Phra Nang near Krabi. I'm way out of shape - but looking forward to the experience.