Horseshoe Canyon Ranch (HCR) offers some of the finest sandstone in Arkansas with nearly 420 routes ranging from 5.5 to 5.14. The majority of the routes are fully bolted sport climbs, but there are also many fine trad routes and a plethora of good boulder problems. The cracks at the Ranch are some of the best in Arkansas and will challenge even the saltiest of crack masters.
Surreal sandstone climbing in a spectacular setting with all the amenities of a four-star dude ranch make this one of the most unique and enjoyable crags you'll ever visit.
The Buffalo River is on the other side of 74 hwy. Hit the BRT, a 40 mile hiking trail. Ponca offers rentals of kayak, canoe, and rafts, or bring your own and float the Buffalo - one of the only pristine rivers in a national park not crowded with houses and other nonsense. There are cliffs along the Buffalo that beg to be climbed, so bring your synthetic shoes.
Camping is $5 per night, climbing is $11 per day. Restrooms, sinks, and token showers were added in 2012, making this a great base for multi-day excursions. Cabins are also available on site for varying prices. You need to reserve these in advance.
Sign in at the Trading Post when you pull in and check out the gear, grab some coffee, even scarf a burrito. HCR also offers shoe rentals.
DOGS NOT ALLOWED.
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Tip: Bring you own TP for the pit toilets and DON'T PET THE BIG DOGS! They have a job to do. Mar 30, 2010
Estes Park, CO
Burbank, CA
Duluth, MN
Portland, OR
February Temps can be decent depending on how things shake out and how late in February you go. It'll probably be getting up to the mid to upper 40's maybe almost the 50's in the day and at night it'll drop down to below freezing. Again, this really depends on the year though, I think the ice storm that ripped through there a few years ago was in late January early February, so it really just depends.
Generally speaking though HCR is a great winter destination as you can just chase the sun around the canyon for the best temps. Dec 14, 2011
Los Alamos, NM
I was just there last week. The weather was unseasonably warm, but quite nice. We did see about a dozen ticks during the two days we climbed there though.
P.S. Chili is a sweet dog, and the people who run the place were very friendly!
Don't forget to check out the Buffalo River while your there. The cliffs we saw on the stretch between Steel Creek and Kyle's Landing were AMAZING (they looked like a mini Verdon). The fishing was good too. There are some lunker bass in there as well as some trout and a ton of crappie. Oh yeah, I saw a couple of good spots for some DWS also (the water was quite warm for a river)! Apr 8, 2012
Pink Ford Thunderbird
looking to visit for the first week of March. Never been to the area and are fairly new to climbing(little over a year). We boulder 3 days a week and have pads, we also have ropes and usually set our own top ropes. My main question is, are there climbs with bolts that you can set a top rope without leading? neither of us have got into leading yet. Thanks for the info in advance. Jan 7, 2014
TN
@Alan Moles, weather for the summer is pretty typical for Arkansas summers - hot and humid. Shade is almost a requirement if you want to get on a climb and there are areas with plenty of it, but occasional cool weekends (i.e., under 85-90 highs) do happen. Bugs include ticks, chiggers, mosquitoes, and lots of other bugs that don't really do anything but annoy you. The Buffalo National River is 15 minutes away, with some DWS and good swimming. Closest free camping that is not secret is Sam's Throne, around 30-45 minutes away. You may be able to find some free camping along the Buffalo, but please remember that much of the land in this area is private. Aug 4, 2014
Batesville, AR
Question to locals: would you drive 30 hours to get to that crag for about 7-10 days, if it wasn't that close to home? I'm from the eastern Canada. Usually go to Red River & the likes up east that are closer, but then it's always fun to discover new areas... Follow-up question: would you drive 30 hrs to go to Red River for that amount of time (or alternatively, what location would be awesome enough you drive 30 hrs to for 7-10 days of climbing)?
EDIT: mostly interested in sport, 11-12 maybe easy 13, perhaps easy trad now & then.... Dec 12, 2017
Omaha, NE
Sugar Land, TX
Omaha, NE
Round Rock, TX
Based on my review, MP is missing 80+ HCR sport and trad routes. Of course, 80 out of 500 is not so bad. But, if you know them, please add missing routes.
I also exported the 24HHH data, put it in a spreadsheet and marked the missing routes in bold. You can find that file here: dropbox.com/s/hm33h0yvsw8yz…
Some areas are well documented in MP, some not. So you know what to trust in MP, here is a count of missing routes per wall: Crackhouse Alley 8, Confederate Cracks 19, Walls of Moria 6, Black Slabs 10 (BS does not exist as a sub area in MP and routes are incorrectly published under CC), The Arcade 6, Street Fighter 2, The North Forty 5 (3 in The Corridor and 2 on Circus Wall), Goat Cave 2, Mullet Buttress 7, Land of the Lost 3, Middle East 5 (3 in NSA and 2 in RC), Roman Wall 3, Cliffs of Insanity 2, and The Far East 4. Apr 19, 2019
Rock Island IL
Kansas City, MO
Branson, MO
Your question is almost a year old, but since no one else responded...
I have a 75' rope (back when Sterling sold cut-offs) and there are a lot of routes that I can climb (40' and less).
I have a To-Do list of over 50 sport routes that are 5.9 and lower and 40' and lower.
If you climb higher difficulty, you could probably add another 10-20 routes.
After 10+ years of climbing, I finally got a longer rope (50m) so that I could do the many 60-70' routes.
I don't know of anything on the ranch that needs a 60 or 70m rope (unless you've already cut the ends off a couple times).
JJ Aug 20, 2020
Saint Louis, MO
Farmington, AR
I don't own a vehicle anything like yours, so take this with a grain of salt: I think you should be fine. The majority of the entry road is super chill, in fact, I saw them redoing it last time I was out. The only parts that can get tricky are after the trading post and those are nothing crazy. I think you'd be fine even there, if you were just a little careful. And worst case scenario, you just can't park quite as close to the north 40 trailhead. I basing this on my experience driving puny, old 2WD sedans and hatchbacks over the years and never having much issue at all. Mar 22, 2021
Atlanta, GA
Austin, TX
Little Rock, AR
Southeast,US
Boulder
Not a ton of hard options here but there are some very aesthetically pleasing 12’s, a few 13’s where you’ll earn the grade an of course sharmas 14a. If you want to have some hard hard routes and or like to climb trad hit Sams throne area for a day. There are some super hard and beautiful sport an trad climbs around. Oct 30, 2022