Hike Cottonwood Canyon Wilderness Peaks Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, UT

Mar 06, 2021 — Red Cliffs National Conservation Area is sometimes overlooked due to its proximity to Zion National Park, but locals seem to enjoy the foothills of these interesting sandstone features. However, the heart of the area, the Cottonwood Canyon Wilderness, is a lot more work to access than most are willing to commit to, especially because the trail system more-or-less ends after a certain point. The peaks Austin and I hiked today are unnamed and seldom-summitted, and we chose to access them from the Grapevine Trail. This trailhead is popular for horses, hikers, and mountain bikers, so don't expect any solitude for the first few miles. In fact, the "trail" is actually a dirt road closed to vehicles, and it's quite flat. You'll even have the pleasure of hiking alongside telephone lines for a while. The peaks can likely also be accessed via the Cottonwood Canyon Trail to the northeast (37.18426, -113.41514), but we opted to skip that option since I read it's quite sandy and photos made it seem not particularly interesting until much farther, likely well past the point where you'd turn off to get to the peaks. I also don't know what the route would be like coming from that direction, but I'm sure one of the ridges would work fine.

From the Grapevine Trailhead, we followed the dirt road almost to its end, where a short basalt cliff on the left appeared. We left the road and ascended the Class 2 cliff (farther north gets more difficult), and then continued north on somewhat brushy terrain. While not particularly annoying, we didn't expect as much zig-zagging around bushes as we ended up doing. We crossed over a wash (which we'd be returning from later), and continued north toward the longest ridge stretching from Peak 4416. Class 2+ got us up the initial base of the peak and the ridgeline continued with some fun scrambling to the summit (Class 2). From the summit of Peak 4416, we continued northwest along the obvious crest. The route was less bouldery than anticipated, but did have more ups and downs than expected. An easy Class 3 section led us to another high point about a quarter mile from Peak 4416, but the exposure was minimal. The view northwest showed us quite how much more we still had coming, 500 feet of vertical loss to a saddle our next obstacles. The route to this point had been pleasant and scrambly with some typical loose sandstone.

As we started down to the saddle separating us from Peak 4583, we determined sticking to the ridge crest was a bad idea. The rock was becoming more loose and the terrain more steep, so we dropped slightly to the left after a couple of unpleasant Class 2+ moves onto more mellow terrain, bypassing the scary ridge and working our way back to the saddle. Now for the crux of the day, which also happened to be the most fun section. Class 2+ led up somewhat loose rock to the base of the slickrock face of Peak 4583. Once confronted with this almost sheer face, we kept to the left and located a lonely juniper tree that seemed to be hiding a nice-looking ascent option (thanks to Steven Thompson for this find!). Just behind it was a Class 2/3 slab that safely brought us to higher ground, where the terrain became more sandy and loose. We passed over the summit of Peak 4583 and continued along the ridge crest, more fun scrambling and one particularly pretty section of slickrock, reminiscent of Pictograph Mountain.

We crossed over a false summit of Peak 4620 along the ridgeline, knowing we'd have to reascend to it for our descent route, and continued north through a small slickrock bowl. Class 2 led to the summit of Peak 4620, where we took in the view of Signal Peak. Back on the false summit ridge, we headed southwest on the obvious ridgeline, encountering a Class 2+ down-climb and other fun little Class 2 obstacles. Once we were toward the base of the ridge, we headed down on Class 2 terrain and entered a convoluted section of washes and hills, where we tried to efficiently make our way back to higher ground. I recommend heading toward the base of the ridge visible on the left, otherwise drainages will lead you out off-route and to the west. Once we made it to a wide, sandy slope, we continued south and entered the wash we crossed over on our way up. We headed back down the basalt cliff and returned the way we came.