Hike Eardley Canyon View Peaks (Peak 5810 and Peak 5875) San Rafael Swell BLM, UT

Feb 21, 2021 — This pair of unnamed peaks along the San Rafael Reef rim were the favorite of our group's two day excursion of peakbagging in the area. The slickrock route-finding was interesting, and the views were dramatic. To reach the trailhead, turn off here (38.76039, -110.4483). There was a steep section here (38.76724, -110.47737) that will cause difficulties for low-clearance.

From the trailhead, we started along a really well-defined social trail along the south side of a narrow drainage. It took me an embarasasingly long time to realize this is a technical canyon we did a few years ago called Zero Gravity Canyon. We wouldn't be repeating this technical canyon today of course, but it was fun to realize how crappy human memory can be. We continued along this social trail as it led us down into a crosshair formation of intersecting washes, taking the one that leads north. This canyon slowly increased in scrambling difficulty, the occasional Class 2 or 3 move bringing us toward its head. There were a couple of spots that may be more difficult or easier, depending on the sand build-up in a given year. The last stretch introduced some big boulders with some minor route-finding to keep the route Class 2/3.

We found ourselves on a beautiful slickrock slope leading out of the canyon, a pleasant surprise considering we thought this may require far more route-finding. We could have just been lucky in choosing this option, since many other spots for ascending could have proven impossible. The cliffs and ledges are numerous and often impassable, but our slope just sort of worked. We did have to scramble onto a higher slickrock slope when ours started to fade away, and then pull a couple of Class 2+/3 moves on ledges to navigate the maze-like slickrock terrain, but we quickly made our way to the summit of Peak 5810.

After taking in some views, we decided to continue over to Peak 5875 to the west, an obvious addition since accessing that peak would be near-impossible from another other direction. We dropped down to more mellow terrain since a traverse would have certainly included sheer cliffs. We avoided a bunch of small drainages and crevasses over this much more complex terrain than the first peak, but we were able to keep the route Class 2/3. While there weren't any exposed or difficult moves, we did have to make our way over ledges and whatnot. There's definitely more than one way, but I included what I believe was among the better options on my attached map. We liked Peak 5875 more, the views more expansive.

There was a major canyon that separated the two peaks that seemed a tempting descent route, but if there's one thing I've learned about Utah's canyon country, it's that you should never casually descend a canyon without knowing what to expect. We all agreed we would take the same route on the way back since the landscape was so complex and even a ten-foot cliff could force us to re-ascend.