A Mostly Unnoticed Peak near the East Temple:
Peak 6275 (unofficially known as "Progeny Peak") is a nondescript and mostly unnoticed mountain formation in the East Canyon, located just east of the East Temple and Upper Pine Creek. A hike to the top and back takes only a few hours and provides fantastic views in every direction. This is a steep off-trail route, so good scrambling and navigation skills are recommended. And as a bonus, "Two-Pines Arch" is a small arch formation that you can see along the way.
⚠ WARNING: The hike to the top of Progeny Peak has several steep and exposed sections and requires some scrambling and good navigation skills. It is quite easy to get shelved or disoriented on this mountain. This route is not recommended for casual hikers.
The Scramble up Progeny Peak:
From one of the pull-off parking areas close to the Canyon Overlook Trail, hike along Route 9 (carefully looking out for traffic) and locate the Upper Pine Creek wash to the north of the road. Only a tenth of a mile to the east is a much smaller wash; hike up the wash heading mostly north-northwest. As you hike and scramble your way up the various layers of sandstone, within only 10-20 minutes, you will find yourself in a large slickrock pantheon with a steep slickrock hill (topped by several "almost" hoodoo formations) to the north and the slopes of Progeny Peak to the east.
Look to the northeast to find Two-Pines Arch: a relatively small arch formation that spans roughly 25 feet. As the name implies, the arch is sandwiched by two pine trees. You can scramble up the slickrock shelves to get a closer look at the arch, but take care to find a suitable route as some of the slabs are a bit steep.
After visiting the arch, hike back down the slickrock bowl just a bit and then look north to the steep slickrock hill with the "almost" hoodoo formations and little gullies near the top. Hike up the rightmost notch (that is located just to the right of the tallest hoodoo with a white cap). Although this may appear to be the steepest and most difficult option, it is actually the easiest.
After a bit of scrambling, soon enough you will level out at the top of of the bowl and make your way past "cleaved rock": an interesting sliced rock formation that looks like two breasts. (Sorry, I can't think of a better description!) As you climb higher, use this landmark to keep yourself oriented.
The top of Progeny Peak is now due east. From "cleaved rock", hike and scramble northeast and make your way around to the back of the mountain. (This section of mountain is mostly pale yellow and white stone with a lot of loose smaller rocks.) Then hike right on up the back until you are standing at the peak. You will be treated to a uniquely beautiful view of the East Canyon and Parunuweap Canyon in the distance to the south. When you have had your fill, retrace your steps or take great care in finding an alternate route down.
Random Notes:
- While I didn't name this peak, I did contribute to the process of its unofficial naming. When I did this hike back in 2005, I referred to the arch as "Baby Arch" because I thought it looked so similar to the bigger Bridge Mountain Arch (Crawford Arch), not knowing that it has traditionally been called "Two-Pines Arch." A few months later, Bo and Tanya dubbed the peak as "Progeny Peak" following my theme. That name appears to have stuck.
- "Two-Pines Arch" is also sometimes referred to as "Twin-Pines Arch" although sadly one of the pines has since died and fallen over.
- Aside from the route described here, there are many other possibilities of varying difficulty, including the gully northwest of "cleaved rock."
Joe's Spin:
This is a wonderful little off-trail scrambling route that I have enjoyed doing multiple times. It's spicy enough to keep most tourists from wanting to hike it, but it's a short-but-sweet adventure that is definitely well worth the effort. And there are many possible variations for those looking to make it a bit more technically challenging.
