Hike Chimney Rock San Rafael Swell BLM, UT

Jun 19, 2023 — Chimney Rock is a sandstone monolith just off Interstate 70 on the San Rafael Swell. Despite seeing it many times along the drive through the Swell, its Class 5 rating meant it had to wait until I had friends to go with. Shawn and Karson humored me with a day of peakbagging despite the absurdly hot forecast. Our friend Chris also wanted to do this fun peak and felt betrayed to learn of our ascent later, but that's what he gets for having to be at work on a Friday, loser. To reach the trailhead, exit I-70 here (38.88029, -110.65801), turn right here (38.84359, -110.70543), then right here (38.83680, -110.72245). Veer right here (38.86210, -110.77467) and use the underpass below I-70. I'd say any car can make it to this point. Keep left after the underpass and follow this lesser road past Dutchman Arch, suitable with at least some clearance. We parked at a junction with a closed ATV trail and hiked from there. It's a bit of an extended drive even though the trailhead is so close to the highway but that's because there's no exit leading right here.

After packing way too much gear and rope, we set out on an the old ATV road. Please don't drive on it since it's clearly trying to return to nature, though poorly signed as such. This ATV road wandered through the desert for about a mile, Chimney Rock clearly visible for the majority of it. We left the old road when it was clearly not going to bring us any closer continued north through a drainage, navigating typical brushy and crypto-riddled terrain carefully. From this distance our summit seemed pretty scary, but as we approached the northeast side we could see a much more friendly angled slope we could use.

Once at the base of Chimney Rock we inspected the first obstacle, a bright white sandstone high-angle slope that required scrambling up about 100 feet. A direct Class 4 seam was the first option we noticed and, as is typical, my friends started up without a thought, leaving me below questioning the rock quality, our sanity, etc. This option was ultimately quite fun and had plenty of good holds, but I would only recommend this choice if you want to add more spice to the day since 50 feet to the right you can scramble much more tame Class 3 on a series of wide ledges. I left both routes on my attached map for reference. An uncharacteristically solid red lip feature greeted us at the top of the slope, which we climbed over at a spot that seemed the least difficult (Class 3+/4). The red lip continued to the left and wrapped around Chimney Rock toward its south side. A fortunate feature, this red lip formed a lovely exposed ledge into the otherwise slick sandstone face. Traversing along it was less daunting than it seemed since it was wide enough to walk on, despite the wild drop to the left. I don't think the peak would be so easily ascended without this key ledge.

The ledge plopped us onto a short brushy slope that we followed, a quick hike leading up to a narrow notch. This notch is where the route crux supposedly would be found. Within this notch is a crack that can be used to climb out and onto a headwall above. It's only about 15-20 feet of climbing. Matt Lemke rates the crack a YDS 5.5, but we decided to skip the crack completely and stem up the narrow walls instead, a technique more familiar to canyoneers. With a light push using a leg off the opposite wall, we all managed to climb out of the crack without the use of gear and continued merrily up the subsequent headwall. I don't know what to rate this move since it was a bit dynamic, maybe generic low Class 5? The face above the notch started at Class 2 and progressed quickly to being steep and exposed, likely Class 4 or very low Class 5. The crux was located at the top just below the summit ridge lip. I took my time feeling for holds, all of which were large enough that I felt pretty confident to climb without needing a friend to drop me a line. I decided immediately that we'd be rappelling to get back down later, though.

Once above the headwall, it was Class 2 to the high point, where we got excellent views to the north into the unique features of the San Rafael Swell. On the way back we used a pre-set anchor wrapped around a dubious little bush. I went first, mostly using the rappel as a backup since I didn't fully trust the bush anchor and the face was low-angle enough that I didn't need to fully weight the rope. This was an excellent little peak with plenty of unique features and just enough spice to get our blood pumping.