Hike Eagle Crags Canaan Mountain Wilderness Area BLM, UT

May 07, 2023 — Eagle Crags is among the first iconic features visitors see on the way into Zion National Park, an inspiring set of pinnacles overlooking Springdale UT. Being outside the park means it gets little visitation, so the Eagle Crags Trail mostly trafficked by locals. Yoshi and I didn't have any information about the summit of Eagle Crags West (the high point), only a short description of the route to Eagle Crags East. Knowing that zero online reports for such a prominent spire likely means it's extremely difficult, we decided to give it a go. Unfortunately, a spoiler that there was no way we'd be reaching the high point, so this route describes our ascent for Eagle Crags East. Though if you're a trad climber and you want to give the high point a go, the approach described here is viable. The drive to the Eagle Crags Trailhead was fine except for a few very rutted sections impassable without decent clearance. For a road so regularly used by the area's residents, we were suprised at its poor condition. There are signs along the road reading "no parking" before it deteriorates, so if you can't make it to the trailhead expect to walk an extra few miles each way to avoid parking illegally.

We started south along the Eagle Crags Trail, the summit pinnacles visible ahead. The trail descends slightly through wooded terrain, far more well-maintained than we thought it would be. While this trail travels through far less epic scenery than the immersive Zion landscape, the views improved as we started ascending and we found it has a unique perspective toward the south side of the park, Johnson Mountain and Mount Kinesava the first summits visible in the distance. After a couple of miles the trail began to ascend more steeply, making use of a couple of switchbacks leading to the eastern shoulder of Eagle Crags. You may note a more direct western line on my attached map: this was our descent, and it's brushy and steep, so I don't recommend going that way especially since such a lovely trail exists.

The east shoulder of Eagle Crags marks the end of the official Eagle Crags Trail. The trail began to descend south from here, but it led away from where we wanted to go. I'll note that although it was no longer officially maintained past this point, the trail still looked to be in decent shape. Leaving the Eagle Crags Trail, we took a social trail that ascended further, hoping it would take us where we wanted to go. Above, we noted a prominent named tower called Mrs. Butterworth (also known as Tooele Tower). This is an important feature to recognize because as of writing this report, it's the only tower up here with climbing information available that we could find. We wouldn't be reaching its incredible pinnacle today, but it served as a great landmark to get our bearings. It's also the reason for the existence of the social trail we were using.

As we left the official Eagle Crags Trail behind, the social trail leading to Mrs. Butterworth steepened significantly, introducing some Class 2 on this dirty ascent, where we immediately became aware helmets would have been a nice idea. We got to a point where the trail became less clear, though maybe we just missed a turn. Whatever the case, we ascended on a steep and loose Class 2+/3 slope, taking turns to prevent knocking each other out with a loose rock. This segment only lasted a hundred feet or so, and then we were back on some sort of social trail, cairns leading us directly to the base of Mrs. Butterworth.

Mrs. Butterworth is an impressive sight from its base, certainly much larger than it looked from farther below. We continued on its north side using a rocky Class 2 slope, cairns indicating we were still on some sort of route. As the torso of Mrs. Butterworth inched toward eye-level, a series of fun Class 3 moves up a small boulder field brought us to the base of a severe-looking sandstone outcropping. We explored higher up and found a bolted route, but I left this mishap out of my map. It was clear we had gone too high. Instead, we located a steep, sandy slope that brought us down and around this substantial rock outcropping. We meandered around the base of Eagle Crag East's vertical northern face through steep and sometimes brushy terrain, animal trails helping slightly. Eventually we were able to use a clump of boulders to ascend to the west side of Eagle Crags East (Class 3). It was about this point Yoshi and I looked up at the taller Eagle Crags West and laughed at our silly plans to try to reach its summit. From this angle, it looked nearly impossible. We decided we would save our legs and not attempt a route up since even its base was riddled with significant cliffs and the day was hot.

A bit disillusioned with our plans for the day after realizing our primary goal was a no-go, we continued toward Eagle Crags East. As it turns out, this summit would introduce a bit of adrenaline after all. The first couple of hundred feet along the ridge was comprised of Class 2/3 boulder-hopping with a light use trail. The route became a bit more blocky higher up, and we kept more or less to the ridge crest to avoid the quickly steepening faces on either side. We reached the base of the summit block, and Yoshi toyed around on an extremely exposed ledge on the left that made my palms sweaty. His foot slipped a little. I kept my mouth shut to not cause him anxiety. I was sure he was going to back off it, but I guess after a long hiatus from adventuring he was excited for some danger. Pulling a Class 3/4 move, he reported it wasn't too bad. I told him I wouldn't be going that way and would look around for a less potentially death-inducing option. Just above me was a 15-foot flat, vertical face with a crack splitting it, located directly next to a perpendicular wall. I was able to manuever up this feature and squeeze myself into the wider, upper portion of the crack. It was Class 4 and less exposed, so I just took my time as I tend to do, feeling out each move and making sure I could downclimb it later. In hindsight, it's a very cool crux and far less dangerous than Yoshi's choice. In fact, he preferred to use this option on the way down later. Once above the Class 4 crux, a slanted bit of Class 2 led to a 2+/3 move to gain the summit block. Since this dinky peak had given us a little trouble, our fantasy of going for Eagle Crags West was even more laughable.

We backtracked from the summit, down the ridge, and continued to the saddle separating the Eagle Crags. From here we decided to take what seems to be the "standard" route back, a steep and brushy undertaking. We'd originally thought this would be our ascent, but were very happy we decided against it earlier. Watching for snakes, we picked our way north around brush and sporadic rock outcroppings. You'll notice our route wiggles quite a bit, the result of the many little obstacles we had to avoid on this descent. After 1200' of steep slope descending, we made it back to the Eagle Crags Trail.