Three o’clock rock   Darrington:  Climbing Areas:  Three O’Clock Rock     Three O’Clock rock is the easiest to reach of all Darrington crags and a good place for a first visit to the area.  Reach it via the old Eightmile Creek trail, from a trailhead departing a wide spot in the road, five or six miles up Clear Creek from the Mountain Loop Highway on forest road #2060 (the parking area comes about a half mile beyond a fork in the road – stay on the main road, to the right).  As of June 2006, the road is passable to this point in a normal automobile.  After forty minutes of hiking, the trail leaves the woods and crosses an overgrown boulder field; among the boulders, a side trail departs up left to the Big Tree routes and continues further left to the Arch area.  The main trail continues on past the North Buttress, passes near "Four O'Clock rock, and continues on up to Squire Creek Pass).   Three O’Clock Rock has a great variety of routes. Many good climbs are not shown here, including Masters of the Universe (5.11a), near the south end of the rock. Some old classics still retain the original Darrington runouts, including Shot in the Dark (5.10d), The Rash (5.4), and Big Tree One (5.6). Other climbs are pretty well protected with a combination of gear and bolts. The Arch Several enjoyable climbs are found here with modern anchors, including Tidbits (5.10b), Gastroblast (5.10a), Under the Bored Walk (5.7), Till Broad Daylight to the third belay of The Kone (5.8), The Kone in its entirety (5.9), and the first (5.6) pitch of Cornucopia (5.9). North Buttress Bushy Galore (5.7) would be a poor choice and Beanberry Delight (5.7) cannot be found. However, Silent Running (5.9+ to the 5.10b last pitch), and Total Soul (5.10b or 5.10d) are excellent climbs. If you crawl through the woods to get there, another good climb, Ginsu, is off to the right on “Four O’Clock Rock.” Descents Descents are by 50m rappels. Topos  North Buttress (pdf file 40k) Big Tree Area (pdf file 36k)  Great Arch Area (pdf file 40k)        Silent Running, photo by Ralph Bodenner