Parunuweap Peak

After thoroughly enjoying Nippletop, in December, we decided to do several more hikes on the eastside of Zion National Park this winter.  First up is Crawford Overlook.  Never heard of it?  Neither had we, but both Stav and Joe Braun gave it high marks and said it would provide impressive views of Parunuweap Canyon that we had done back in October.  With a beautiful January day waiting for us and temperatures expected to be in the low 60's it was time to do some hiking in this less explored area of Zion.  We're still amazed that we can find places like this right out our back door!

We parked at a pullout just northeast of Cockeye Falls . . .
As you can see we had several inches of snow earlier in the week . . .
This would prove to be more of a challenge than we were expecting 

Although we started off with a chilly morning, as soon as the sun got above us it became a glorious day!

Winter in Zion!  Yes, it's still a special place!
Working our way toward the French Pastry and Lost Peak

At times the snow and ice was unavoidable . . .
The challenge was finding places on the slickrock, to place our feet, that didn't have any ice . . .
Can you see Kent and Mike working their way towards the Triplets?  (Click on picture for larger view)

Freshly fallen snow highlights the striations in the sandstone . . . 
This is looking back towards the drainage we have been working our way up

The red formations in the center are known as the French Pastry . . .
  We might need a real one after this hike!

A wispy contrail floats above The Triplets . . . Nippletop is off to the left
If all goes as planned, we will do the return hike by passing through the saddle between them

Parunuweap Peak is where we are headed (looking down into Crawford Wash) . . .
From here, we'll have another mile of ridge hiking to get to Crawford Overlook

It's always fun to stumble upon unique rocks 

We are coming out of Crawford Wash and trying to gain the ridge . . . this area was tricky to ascend . . .
It took a little route finding to navigate around the ice and snow
(Any "normal" day would have been no problem!)

This hoodoo seems out of place . . . 
We are looking back at Lost Peak which we passed as we descended into Crawford Wash

Once out of Crawford Wash, and up on the ridge, we had fun enjoying
 a lot of beehive formations in this relatively unexplored section of Zion 

Kent is working his way up Parunuweap Peak

We took a break on Parunuweap Peak (5,935 ft) and contemplated whether to continue on

The white arrow points to Crawford Overlook, which was our planned destination . . . 
However, with all the ice and snow we decided not to "push it" . . .
All the tentative walking was taking a toll on Kent's knees and feet . . . 
The hike was still well worth it . . . the scenery was amazing! 

Looking back at where we hiked through Sandy Saddle on our way to Crawford Wash (Lost Peak on the left) . . .
 Our plan is to work our way back between The Triplets and the Fin which is just to the left of Nippletop (Yellow line is our planned return route) 

Another memorable hike in east Zion . . . 
That's East Temple in the background . . .
Zion Canyon, the part most people visit, is on the other side

The size of this beehive is noticeable compared to Mike, as he skirts by the left side . . . 
That's a pretty interesting rock formation on top of the beehive!

Just another unique formation with large moqui marble shaped rocks scattered about . . .
Looking east, you can see Parunuweap Canyon in the background

We are heading for a saddle that is supposed to be between the Triplets and Nippletop . . . 
Doesn't look like there's one from this angle!

To our surprise there was quite a big saddle waiting for us (that's The Fin on the right) . . . Can you see Mike? He's up on the saddle waiting for us! (Click on picture for enlarged view)

Views from the saddle!
What better place for a lunch break . . .  fine dining in Zion!
The French Pastry, we passed earlier, is located in the center of this picture

Time to head back down and "fight" more snow and ice on the north side of the Triplets

Almost back!  It's been a great day in East Zion!
Thankfully, a good portion of the ice had melted with the daytime temperatures!

Our route took approximately five hours and covered just about 6.5 miles with a little over 1,900 feet of elevation gain.  On a normal day (one without snow and ice) it probably could have been covered in 2/3rds the time.  Click here for an excellent map that Joe Braun has provided from his website, Joe's Guide to Zion National Park, that shows the route that we closely followed.  This hike inspired and gave us some more ideas for future hikes (Lost Peak & The Triplets) . . . we know many people incorporate these with the Crawford Overlook hike, but it seemed a little too much for us!  No worries, we'll be back to finish what we missed!

Nippletop

Kent was trying to make plans for a hike, but he seemed to be running into a block wall while looking for something new and exciting that was close to home (Now he knows how writers feel when they experience a creative slowdown!)  What to do?  Often, in times like this, he looks at Stav Basis' website for new ideas, albeit most are outside our skill range.  Low and behold the first one he viewed was located in Zion and was called Nippletop . . . it looked amazing and seemed to fit our skill set to a tee!  Now we had a plan . . . the only question was, "Could we complete it?"

You know it's going to be a fine day when the first thing you see upon exiting your truck is a herd of bighorns!

Looking back at South Ariel Butte (just left of center), where we saw the bighorns . . .
We parked at Ariel's base in a pullout just off the Zion-Mt. Carmel Road 

Allison, Mike & Hudson all noticed these unique Moqui balls . . . Kent, of course, did not!

This hike is crazy steep from the start and remains so until reaching the top of the ridge . . .
Do you see Kent working his way up the sandstone?

It's always interesting, when hiking on sandstone, to observe the different layers of crossbedding

More spectacular scenery and a perspective of how steep this ascent can be

We had watched the Wizard of Oz the night before and this tree reminded us of the Wicked Witch . . .
"I'll get you my pretty!"

Another taste of the beautiful sandstone you will come across on this hike

After gaining the ridge, we got our first view of Nippletop . . . 
Our first thoughts were, "You've got to be kidding me! We can't make it up this without ropes!"

One of our favorite parts of this hike was walking (or should we say "scooting") along this spine . . .
Honestly, this skinny spine looked intimidating, but was actually a very pleasant walk

Nearing the end of the spine that reminds one of Angel's Landing and getting ready for the final push to the top

This section would be the crux of the hike . . . Stav said there was one class 3 move we would have to negotiate
Mike & Hudson had no problem . . . if you look closely you can see them on the skyline
(Click on the picture for an expanded view)

Obviously we made it, as this picture is taken from the summit block . . . 
It really wasn't all that sketchy and, surprisingly, we found it easier going down than up . . .
We are looking north back at the spine and ridge we traversed to get on top

Mike is looking over Hudson's shoulder as he reads the registry

As an added bonus, there was even a reference mark on top . . . 
Although, we have no idea where the benchmark it is pointing towards can be found!

Hudson and Mike looking at Kent who was a little leery of going up the summit block . . . 
Allison had little fear and scampered right up with "the boys!"

We're not sure you can find better views of Zion than those from Nippletop . . . 
Here we are on this unique sky island with unobstructed 360° scenic views of the Park!

No, this picture doesn't need to be rotated!
On the way down, Allison noticed these unique rocks that were "growing" sideways!

Working back down the spine . . . 
We decided to try and make a loop out of this hike . . .  so, instead of heading down the ridge we came up
(pictured directly between the pine trees), we took a crack that led us down the eastern side of the spine
to an interesting sandstone bowl

Down in the bowl and looking back up at Nippletop

Sidehilling through the bowl on our way to flatter ground

What a neat shot of these two ponderosa pines growing on sandstone slabs . . . 
This would make a nice painting, if we were artists!

Once at the bottom, we all took different routes back to the truck . . . 
Hudson went one way, Mike another, and we decided to explore this drainage that emptied into Clear Creek

Allison discovered this old telephone insulator as we looked for a way to get down into Clear Creek

Finally, after several attempts, we were able to find a fissure that led off the cliffs . . .
It was fairly steep and quite brushy . . .
Allison lost her glasses and didn't notice that they were gone until we got back . . .
Fortunately, we were able to drive back up close to where we came down and Mike hiked back up and recovered them! 

Walking Clear Creek back to the truck . . . 
The Zion-Mt. Carmel Road is just above us on the right

What a fantastic hike!  It still amazes us, that after 25 years of living in the shadows of Zion, that we can come across unexplored (at least, by us) places like this!  We were all in agreement that this was one of the most amazing hikes any of us had done in Zion!  Surprisingly, it was a rather short hike of just under 3.75 miles (r/t) . . . the real "kicker" being the 1,400 ft elevation gain in a little over a mile!  If you would like a more detailed posting of this hike, please click here for a link to Nippletop from Stav's website Stavislost.com.  Many thanks to Stav for helping us find this amazing hike!