Pocatello Idaho Rock Climbing & Free Camping
The best part of vanlife, hands down, is meeting all the crazy cool kookz along the way. We met up with our van friends Josh and River aka @leashed_nomads in Pocatello, Idaho, where they call home base. If we didn't know these guys, we would have blown through Pocatello and missed all the gems this place had to offer.
Our first stop with the @leashed_nomads was the Sunnyside Climbing Area, this is an awesome free outdoor climbing area that is basically a climbing gym. All routes were bolted by the Public Access Fund for the community of Pocatello. While most routes are sport-climbs, starting from 5.6 and up. This is a great place for beginners and advanced rock climbers to get outside and enjoy a nice free public rock climbing area. We were so stoked on this crag, we wished every city had a rock climbing park like this. There’s more climbing also on the other side of the park which is called Shadyside Climbing Area. Every route can be lead climbed or top-roped making it a great place for all levels. The climbs are short but the rock is solid. Before you blow through Pocatello we highly recommend stopping over at this crag.
There’s also plenty of open space around Pocatello providing plenty of free camping options. Two places we camped out were Blackrock Canyon and Goodenough Creek Campsite. While Blackrock Canyon is closest to Pocatello, it’s worth the drive out to Goodenough Creek, which had more vegetation for shade, as well as, a creek. Both campsites have drop toilets and fire pits.
There’s also a good deal of Mountain biking in the hills around Pocatello but we didn't have time to squeeze that in. Thanks to Josh and River we got to experience a little bit of what Pocatello has to offer. We highly recommend making time for a stop over in this adventurous little Idaho town.
