Hike Shelf Canyon, Bighorn Peak, Progeny Peak Loop Zion National Park, UT

May 06, 2023 — This loop linking Shelf Point, Bighorn Peak, and Progeny Peak on Zion's east side visits a few beautiful viewpoints located near the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel. We actually saw a couple of parties within Upper Pine Creek Canyon, not unexpected since the canyon is used both by canyoneers looking to reach Spry Canyon as well as by hikers using the lightly traveled route to reach Progeny Peak and Two Pines Arch. Otherwise, this exploratory route is a lovely outing in the backcountry of Zion. A short slot canyon along our loop, Shelf Canyon was worth an additional short excursion. We parked where we did to avoid the crowds at the Canyon Overlook Trailhead. It wasn't an issue since this loop passes both trailheads anyway. This just meant starting with a hike up Shelf Canyon before doing any peaks.

We walked along the pavement and located Shelf Canyon on the right. This side quest requires some Class 3 boulder-hopping in order to reach the tight narrows farther in. The canyon ends at a Class 5 chimney, so we turned back here. It's an enjoyable hike through a nontechnical canyon, and having quick access from the road you might see others.

We next set out along our intended loop, which began along the wildly popular Canyon Overlook Trail. This is one of the only official trails on Zion's East Side, and if you're looking at this trip report it's likely you've already done the Canyon Overlook Trail in the past. The trail has been carved into the sandstone cliff face on the north side of Pine Creek Canyon, constructed with handrails, boardwalks, and staircases. Looking down to the left you can see the narrow technical slot of Pine Creek Canyon. The view at the end of the trail is great for first-time Zion visitors, a lookout point toward Bridge Mountain, The West Temple, the main Virgin River Canyon, and the road switchbacks leading to the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel.

While most hikers will turn around here, we continued from the end of the trail and headed north toward the base of The East Temple, an undertaking requiring 800+ vertical gain on a steep standstone slab. The slope becomes steeper higher up, and the slickrock seems to just drop off to the left. For this reason I recommend trending slightly to the right as you ascend in order to avoid pretty serious exposure. A couple of Class 3 moves to overcome minor ledges add some spice to the mix, and locating the best option might be puzzling. As it turns out, this is an excellent introduction to Zion backcountry peakbagging, with plenty of slab scrambling and route-finding.

We reached the southeastern shoulder of The East Temple, a point known colloquially as Shelf Point. It's not really a peak, but does offer a near-vertical view down toward Shelf Canyon and the road below. Bighorn Peak lay just to the north, a bit more of an undertaking than it may appear. Bighorn Peak isn't a true peak either, but every bump in Zion is cool enough to be worth visiting, in my opinion. We started down the Class 2 slope from Shelf Point, using a ledge/slope combo along the base of The East Temple's impressive east face. Sporadic chasms and lips forced us to pull a Class 3 move here and there, but soon we were ascending toward Bighorn Peak. Class 2/3 steep sandstone and loose terrain brought us to its summit, which I'd say is most notable for its close-up perspective of The East Temple and Deertrap Mountain.

Continuing north off Bighorn Peak, the sandy terrain became a little more brushy and then ultimately gave way to the bright orange sandstone we all know and love about Zion. Intending to get down into Pine Creek Canyon to the east, we descended in that direction on the steepening slab. We were then confronted with a wide, sloped bowl that Yoshi and I each have scrambled through on multiple occasions. This Class 3 route looked insanely steep to us today for some reason, so we decided to locate a slightly easier option to the south. The standard route heads directly through the bowl, but our option traversed south along a sandy ledge with a social trail, then used a steep Class 2/3 ramp to get into the bowl. I left both of these routes on my attached map, the purple line being easier.

Now that we were in the bowl, our next goal was Progeny Peak, a minor summit we could see on the opposite side of Pine Creek Canyon. On previous occasions we'd both reached the summit via its standard route on the south side of the peak. We decided that would be our descent route later, instead choosing to attempt a route from the peak's north side. Realizing there was a chance of failure, we set out knowing we could return to Upper Pine Creek and get back to the trailhead that way. I left this other option on my map as a purple line. Going this way reduces the mileage and vertical gain, as well as difficulty of the route by a quite a bit.

We found a cairned route we used to leave the slickrock bowl and enter Upper Pine Creek Canyon. We then headed north through the drainage, in search of a weakness on the east side of Upper Pine Creek Canyon. This seemed an unlikely feat, but a high-angle slab soon provided a potential option amongst the otherwise cliffy face. We pulled a Class 3 move to gain the slab, then worked our way up a few Class 3 moves, using ledges to zig-zag up in order to keep the scramble feeling less exposed and dangerous. It was the trickiest part of the hike so far, the route-finding complex and the potential for getting cliffed-out high. After a couple hundred feet of gain in this manner, we found ourselves back on glorious slickrock. Progeny Peak came into view to the east, as did its tricky-looking slabby face we planned to attempt.

Descending through slickrock toward the base of Progeny Peak, Yoshi and I were both thrilled to be in this area since it was new for us both. Our hike so far was fully in view to the west, a spectacle of wavy sandstone at the base of The East Temple. We traversed a sandy section and then ascended a slickrock sope with a stream trickling down its center, following it to the north side of Progeny Peak. Here we inspected our ascent options. The slab appeared to be low-angle enough for us to be comfortable starting up, but a lip higher up could force us to turn back. Very steep, the Class 2/3 slab ascended reasonably to this lip in question. At its base, we paced back and forth in search of a weakness, locating one Class 3+ move. While not hard, it was exposed. There may have been a better option, but it wasn't within a hundred feet in either direction on the slabby dome where we chose to ascend. Once above this lip, we were on an easier slab and made our way up to Progeny Peak's ridgeline. Once we reached the ridge crest, we noted that we were on the standard summit route, and Class 2 led us to the summit, a gorgeous perch overlooking Zion's east side.

Backtracking along the crest of Progeny Peak seemed the most reasonable option to get down, the slab maintaining Class 2/2+. The standard route (our descent route) was surpringly unclear since the slope is wide and you've got freedom to wander, but with some route-finding on a few wide ramps we managed to reach a viewpoint of Two Pines Arch. A Class 2/2+ set of moves using blocky ledges just to the right of a deep gash took us down to Two Pines Arch. It's a neat, vertically-oriented sandstone feature. It was a quick Class 2 descent from here to get into the drainage below. We followed the drainage, avoiding little dryfalls along the way, until a social trail took us back to the road.