Drive to the very end of 9b which is 0.1 miles past the crossing near the parking for Indian Creek Crag (3.9 miles from the 9a/9b intersection). You will pass a road, which is blocked by a gate on the right, that leads to Board Wall. Either park at the very end of the road and risk getting blocked in, or park at a small turnout on the left just before the end. On the right(Northest) side of the road, across from the turnout, is a flat grassy area popular with campers. Walk to that area, then turn right and follow a faint path across a muddy rivulet to the base of a more recent logging road. Turn left and head up the muddy road until you near the wall. The large detached area of rock on the left is the location of "A Way of Life", "Delusions of Grandeur", and all climbs in between. At the point this detached area bisects the main cliff near an arete is where "Captain One Eye" can be found. Climbs on the right side of the detached block and those eastward are described first, then the left side of the detached block and climbs to its west are listed.

Wall Sun: Unknown

Click the column heads to sort. Hold shift to sort on multiple columns.

Route	Spray	Name	Type	Grade	User Stars	Length	Picture
0 1	-1	Coffee Talk	Sport	20 5.10c	2.94 (49)	60 60ft	1
1 2	-1	A Way Of Life	Sport	18 5.10b	2.59 (41)	60 60ft	0
2 3	-1	Captain One Eye	Sport	17 5.10a	3.45 (62)	70 70ft	1
3 4	-1	What About Bob?	Trad	17 5.10a		90 90ft	0
4 4a	-1	Candy Land	Trad	18 5.10b		100 100ft	0
5 5	-1	Come in Your Lycra	Sport	17 5.10a	4.30 (76)	45 45ft	1
6 6	-1	Impossible	Sport	34 5.12c	1.00 (1)	50 50ft	0
7 7	-1	Shish-kebab	Trad	14 5.9	2.75 (4)	60 60ft	0
8 8	-1	Pebbly Poo	Mixed	14 5.9	3.37 (19)	60 60ft	1
9 8a	-1	It Ain't Easy Bein Squeezy	Trad	6 5.6	3.75 (4)	60 60ft	1
10 9	-1	Delusions of Grandeur	Sport	25 5.11b	3.94 (17)	60 60ft	0
11 10	-1	Maybe, Maybe Not	Trad	14 5.9	2.57 (7)	70 70ft	0
12 11	-1	Til the Cows Come Home	Mixed	31 5.12a	4.00 (2)	90 90ft	0
13 12	-1	Grunt	Trad	10 5.8-	3.50 (14)	80 80ft	1
14 13	-1	Tour de Hooks	Mixed	21 5.10d	2.75 (4)	40 40ft	0
15 14	-1	Hot Licks and Rhetoric	Trad	11 5.8	3.67 (6)	95 95ft	0
16 15	-1	Pleasant Surprise	Trad	24 5.11a	3.00 (2)	50 50ft	0
17 16	-1	Spinning Marty	Trad	14 5.9	2.00 (2)	60 60ft	0
18 16a	-1	Ride the Coal Train	Trad	20 5.10c		110 110ft	1
19 17	-1	Into the Purple Valley	Trad	11 5.8	4.34 (65)	95 95ft	1
20 18	-1	5.11 Jimmy and Spike Go Craggin'	Mixed	18 5.10b	3.11 (27)	40 40ft	0
21 19	-1	Big Crack	Trad	8 5.7	2.53 (15)	40 40ft	1
22 20	-1	The Love Shack	Sport	27 5.11c	3.70 (10)	30 30ft	0
23 21	-1	Flaring Crack	Trad	8 5.7	3.17 (23)	30 30ft	1
24 22	-1	Off Width Your Head	Trad	8 5.7	2.00 (1)	80 80ft	0
25 23	-1	Social Butterfly	Trad	18 5.10b	3.17 (18)	25 25ft	1
26 23a	-1	Me-yommy	Bouldering	-1 V3	4.00 (1)	25 25ft	1
27 24	-1	No Retreat	Trad	18 5.10b	4.00 (1)	110 110ft	0
28 24a	-1	Anklebreaker	Bouldering	-1 V2	2.00 (1)	20 20ft	0
29 25	-1	Burden of Dreams	Trad	27 5.11c	5.00 (6)	80 80ft	1
30 26	-1	Electric Cowboy	Sport	25 5.11b	4.46 (26)	70 70ft	1
31 27	-1	Suckers at the Top	Mixed	14 5.9	3.00 (1)	50 50ft	0
32 28	-1	The Bushman	Trad	11 5.8		50 50ft	0

Comments

18 comments {add your own comments}

Anonymous said on May 20th, 2005

so.....this is a 5 mile hike past where forest service road 9 is gated? why did they gate that anyway?

Ascentionist said on February 1st, 2006

Coffee Talk GPS: 37.9008�N, 83.6379�W

Crankmas said on November 20th, 2006

be prepared for a stream crossing like the Funk Rock approach- second stream crossing is washed out and blocked- adds very little to the approach time wise

Myke Dronez said on March 13th, 2008

"Across from the turnout" was confusing and maybe applied to a time when the road ended past the stream. Drove to the end of the road where it is blocked before the stream. Cross the stream before looking for the approach trail to the right (50+ yards).

Anonymous said on August 27th, 2008

Your damn right it was confusing directions. Path is unrecognizable in summer. After creek there is a small gravel area on right. Directly across from that is start of trail.

Anonymous said on August 27th, 2008

I think you mean to say the small gravel area is on your left and the trail is directly across from that. Unless someone moved Purple Valley.

Anonymous said on September 2nd, 2008

the approach described in the guidebook is out dated. the road ends earlier than indicated, since the bridge collapsed. park at the bridge, walk across the stream then about 50 yards up there will be wooden pillars on the left side (look out for these, they are a little hidden) where the turnout used to be and the overgrown trail up to coffee talk is across the trail from the pillars. This is the trail they are referring to in the book, but someone said you could get to the west side of the wall if you follow the lost ridge trail.

Jeff said on April 12th, 2010

So after 12+ years of climbing at the Red, I finaly notice the intro to PV in the print guide where it says if you climb here in the spring, you'll see why it's called Purple Valley. Sweet! Cool beta, right?!! Well it's spring, and the redbuds are blooming like crazy. Purple Valley should be renamed Brown Valley.

jenbongo said on May 5th, 2010

Exactly, Jeff. We were there April 18th, and now it's Green Valley. We saw some purple flox near the parking area, and the redbuds on the drive in, but the view from the top - green.

Danny said on April 4th, 2012

The road is blocked at the Indian Creak crossing so just park before that and walk a few more feet. There is a lot more purple phlox than red bud here.

Anonymous said on May 1st, 2012

There's a new route between love shack and delusions of grandeur, seemed low 10, maybe a 9, any idea what this is? There are 3 bolts and all gear looks new. Was a funny route. Also, Follow Annonymous (Sept 2nd) directions. Got lucky today and found it.

dustonian said on May 1st, 2012

maybe one of those old mixed routes got rebolted... "5.11 Jimmy..."?

Anonymous said on April 17th, 2013

There is a new route bolted to the left of the Anklebreaker splitter crack boulder problem. It starts up the arete then climbs past a small roof and then does a pretty heady traverse out right on very thin stuff. Maybe high 10 low 11 grade. Anyone have any idea about it? It's not in the new guidebook.

dustonian said on May 8th, 2013

Heard some unsubstantiated rumors that a bolt failed out here recently, resulting in a broken leg. Anyone have more info on this?

DrRockso said on April 10th, 2014

Directions: Drive until 9b is closed by a gate due to a washed out bridge across the creek. Park in a small camping area on the left or a small parking area before this on the right. Cross the creek and continue on 9b past a well defined trail on your right and continue a little further until you see another trail on your right. Take this trail all the way to the crag.

Anonymous said on April 10th, 2014

So they finally closed the last mile of 9b eh? Bummer.

Willy said on April 10th, 2014

No, it's still open all the way to old concrete bridge. Doesn't appear it's been open past there for quite some time

davidbr said on March 9th, 2017

Just right of where the approach trail hits the outlier is a chimney that goes at about 5.8 and takes gear to 12 inches. You can walk off.

Route details are copyright Ray Ellington, John Bronaugh, and other Red River Gorge climbers. Climbing is an inherently dangerous sport. The information in this guidebook is subject to error and should supplement never replace common sense and caution, competent guidance and instruction, and actually being outside. One should be especially cautious on matters of route length, descent type, and number of bolts (especially since such things do change occasionally).

redriverclimbing.com: red river gorge guide

Purple Valley

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