Armed with several days of vacation, Pete and I left the Front Range on Thursday afternoon heading westward. After a dinner stop at the Gore Range Brewery we made it about 30 miles past Green River, Utah when it was time to stop and get some sleep. BLM land just off the highway provided a moon and star-lit night’s sky for us to just throw out our bags and fall asleep.
The morning cast brilliant light on the formations just north of us as I prepared coffee while Pete took a jog.
Four more hours of interstates brought us to Zion National Park where we claimed our reserved campsite then drove to the eastern side of the tunnel to head up “Progeny Peak”.
The temps were warm as we made our way through a dry wash and then started up sandstone aiming for the summit.
A little scrambling on a ramp brought us a good deal higher and closer to the summit.
Picking our way up loose rocks and breakable ledges we eventually reached the huge and gaudy summit cairn.
Looking at the guidebook and maps we started identifying the nearby summits of East Temple, Deer Mountain, Ant Hill, Nippletop and more.
The landscape would have been amazing had I brought my old hiker’s eyes on this trip. My newer climber’s gaze found these summits wanting as ledges and continuous crack systems were missing, replaced only by sandy and loose slopes.
After a suitable pause, we started back down, following nearly the same path as on our ascent. Pete triggered one time-bomb of a breakable shelf, but his fall was minor and just served to remind us of the dangers.
Returning to camp we started to plot for what we’d planned to be another 5 days here.
