You may ask yourself, "whats Bouldering?" Bouldering is climbing up a boulder, fairly complex name isn't it? There isn't any specific way to boulder, you just pick a nice looking boulder and start your way up to the top. Of course, there are difficulty levels in bouldering. Also bouldering is found all over, there isn't a specific place where you have to boulder. Its a lot like climbing, you do many of the same things climbing as you do bouldering.
First things first, find your boulder. If you live near a mouth of a canyon, or it is easily accessible, your most likely you are going to find a nice boulder for you to play on. There isn't any size limit to it, but you probably should aim for 8-12ft. average. Anything lower would be to small, and anything higher may be dangerous, not that bouldering isn't, you just might become a little more susceptible, to perhaps, breaking your leg.
Now, after finding the boulder, you need to find your route. Your route is the compilation of moves you make to get to the top or finish of the boulder-climb. Depending on your route, there is a universal rating system. It starts out at V0, and works its way up. i.e. V0, V1, V2, V3... all the way to V16. The V16 is the hardest boulder problem known to man that was climbed. Each levels difficulty increases drastically.
When you go bouldering, don't just head up there thinking, "Hey, I'm going to boulder." You need to have some gear when you do it. Some items you will want is: boulder pad (basically a mattress), climbing shoes (you can find these at a sporting goods store i.e. REI) Chalk bag with chalk in it ( you can find these there too), and then a partner. Don't go bouldering alone. if you fall and land on your neck, its more than likely you wont be able to get yourself to a hospital. besides, if you had a partner there with you, they probably would have caught you so you wouldn't have fallen on your neck. Bring water or some other sort of hydrating substance. stay hydrated while you do this. you may not feel parched, but you sweat quite a bit and lose a lot of your bodily fluids. So be smart, stay hydrated! :)
