Hike Mount Kinesava Zion National Park, UT

Apr 25, 2021 — If you've ever driven into Springdale, you've likely seen Mount Kinesava. It's the first peak on the left. The white sandstone true high point is hidden by the red fortifying cliffs surrounding it. The peak is a great alternative to others in the main canyon because it avoids the notorious bureaucracy of the Zion shuttle system and the Springdale parking situation. It's also a great intro to scrambling and route-finding hike, since a social trail leads up the majority of the route. While the route is Class 4, the difficult moves aren't exposed.

We parked at the Chinle Trailhead, which was concerning a first because it required driving along a paved private road in order to reach it, but apparently this doesn't apply to those going to the trailhead. Matt and I started along the pleasant trail as it paralleled UT-9 and meandered amongst private homes and roads. The trail eventually reaches an underpass, and just past this continues on an eroded dirt road. Instead, enter the drainage on the right to reach Mount Kinesava, a route which leaves the official Chinle Trail. The drainage follows some slickrock before narrowing into a sandy, narrow wash. A cairn marks a good spot to leave the drainage to ascend north along a steep slope. A social trail keeps the going straightforward. We followed a low ridge and passed a telephone pole, views to our right into Springdale below. A second, steeper section along the social trail led up heavily-human-eroded slope to a flatter section above. This steep section included some light Class 2 and sandy nonsense.

The flatter section is where the social trail becomes a bit more difficult to follow. While there are plenty of animal trails leading in a web all over, I included on my attached map the route that seemed the most human-formed and most direct. After a quarter mile or so of walking on mostly flat terrain, the slope began to steeped and ended on a minor ridge above. Here, we located cairns leading northeast along the ridge. We could see the steep and cliffy terrain guarding Mount Kinesava and could trace the route to come that would lead us past the cliffs. Keeping to the right of a rock outcrop, we left the minor ridge, dropping down slightly, and then headed up the steep and sandy Class 2 terrain. The slope led on any number of animal/social trails to the base of the cliffs above. From here the route-finding became trivial, and the fun scrambly bits began.

After getting to the base of the cliff, we quickly encountered some Class 2+ and soon stumbled on the crux of the route, a set of Class 4 moves on big boulders. There was no exposure, but of course falling is never fun, even if it's only five feet. Past the crux, more Class 2 and sandy slope walking long well-cairned social trails brought us to an exposed ledge. A short Class 3 move brought us down to the ledge, and then easy walking next to steep exposure led across the ledge for about 20 feet. A Class 3 section led to the second Class 4 bit, which required stemming up a short crack and continuing on easier scrambly terrain. The slope we continued at the cliff's base, the walkable area shrinking as the slope narrowed and led to a final steep and sandy nonsense section. This brought us to the end of the walkable area that ended in typical sheer Zion drops where, conveniently, a Class 3 move through a small crack brought us to the top of the red cliffs.

At the top of the cliffs, we were met with a mellow walk along a flat and pretty grassy section. Here, the red sandstone gave way to the white dome marking Mount Kinesava's summit. Class 2/3 slab climbing led to the summit. It's easy to get a bit mixed up when ascending the final few hundred feet to the summit, since some of the slabs end in headwalls, or quickly become too steep to hike on. If you find yourself pulling any real climbing moves, there's an easier way.

At the base of Mount Kinesava, within the grassy area, we decided to check out some nice petroglyphs. To reach them, we headed west through the grassy/sandy/flat area and headed to the brushy base of a 20-foot cleaved-looking bit of sandstone, which served as the panel for the petroglyphs. We returned the way we came.