Description

Substation is a moderately sized area known most for highball classics including "Beauty Mountain Beatdown", "Hollywood High-rise" and "Life In Color", however a great sampling of shorter, high quality moderates will please most climbers. The digital guide expands on the for-print paper guide, although many lines not included originally were climbed years ago and have now been reclaimed. Furthermore, there is still ample potential for more highball development and lines in between the obvious.

🚶‍♂️ Approach summary - Mellow to rugged. 3 to 20 minutes
💎 Notable problems - Amp Left v4, Binary Tales v5, Hollywood High-rise v6, In Series v7, Life In Color v7, Resistor v8, Heartbreaker v8, Beauty Mountain Beatdown v10
💧 Dry time - 1 to 2 days. Occasional boulders seep.
🍂❄️🍃 Seasonal Beta - Best fall to spring, however this is a well shaded, breezy area in the summer.
🚗 Drive from downtown Fayetteville - 16 minutes
🚗 Drive from Summersville - 35 minutes
🚽 Bathrooms - No toilets here.
📶 Cell phone service - 3/5, consistent but low strength signal.
🐶 Dogs - Must be leashed at all times. This is National Park land.

Routes on Substation Boulders
85 boulder 1 Likes
Browse topos
Photos
Premium topo by New River Gorge and Surrounding Areas
Stella Mascari
S. Mascari
from New River Gorge
Aaron Schneider
A. Schneider
from Mount Lookout, West Virginia
Other Premium topos by New River Gorge and Surrounding Areas 70
Substation Boulders

The area is access sensitive!

*THIS AREA HAS NEW, TENTATIVE PARKING*
When parking, be sure to park all the way off the road. Also be sure to leave by nightfall and be unfailingly polite and friendly. If anyone complains about the parking, leave immediately and report it to us, NRAC, or Water Stone. The locals that live around here are extremely annoyed when they have trouble getting down their road/driveways, their guests have nowhere to park, or they have strange cars parked in front of their houses after dark.

🚗 Driving Directions:
From Fayetteville, turn right onto US-19N and cross the NRG bridge. Take the second right onto Lansing-Edmond Road. Drive about 3.5 miles, then take a right onto Buckhorn Road (there's a tiny post office on the right corner). Almost a mile down the road, Buckhorn Road makes a big curve to the right. Follow the curve and continue down Buckhorn Road for another 0.4 miles. There, the road makes a sharp right turn with a white 'No Parking' sign straight ahead. Take a left onto the gravel road and drive about 0.3 miles. Park in any one of the pullouts on your right in that 0.3 miles.

Hiking Directions: From the parking, keep walking further back the road. The Chips Boulder will appear overhanging the road about 0.1 mile after the road shrinks to an ATV road. The Dot and Kibble Boulders are straight downhill from the Chips Boulder in the talus field. The Saw Tooth, Turkey Wrangler, Fungal Infection, and Resistor Boulders are all just ahead on your right and the Struggle Bus, Life in Color, and Beetle Mania Boulders are just ahead of those on your left.

To access the Flakey and Mini Flakey Boulders: A couple minutes walk later, there's a social trail marked by a cairn on your left leading to the It's Perfect Boulder. Keep on the social trail beyond for the Flakey and Mini Flakey Boulders.

The Beatdown/Amp Cluster is now the last cluster on your left as you hike down the road (with the Heart Boulder hiding to the right of the trail JUST before the first turnoff for the Amp Boulder), just a couple minutes past the social trail for the Flakey/Mini Flakey Boulders, with the Hollywood Boulder bringing up the rear on your left, easily visible from the trail over a creek bed.

If you get to a split in the ATV trail, you've gone too far.

The trail is a rocky 4x4 with elevation chance. Trails to individual boulders are anywhere from well traveled with little elevation gain to trail-less. All are short though. Total hiking time: 2 to 15 minutes.