Every time we get on I-15, and head north, Kent always stares at Peak 5101 and the ridge that leads up to it. After doing some investigative work, on Google Earth, it looked like it should be possible to take a prominent ridge all the way to the top without too many cliff bands to maneuver around. So, on a beautiful January morning we decide to take the short trip up the interstate, to the Toquerville exit, where we began the hike just off a side road that lead to an old quarry.
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| Looking at Peak 5101 and the ridge leading up to it (It certainly doesn't look as steep and narrow as it ended up being) |
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| It's always fun to come across these scratch circles . . . They are made when the wind pushes the grass blade around in a circle |
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| Getting ready to start our ridge hike . . . We ended up going up the ridge to Kent's left and coming down the one on Kent's right . . . If we were doing it over again, we'd use the ridge on Kent's right, both up and down |
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| First we needed to get across this valley/drainage and then make our way towards the left skyline |
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| Looks like someone didn't make it! (Pretty sure this is a coyote skull) |
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| Almost through the drainage and getting ready to top out on the skyline/ridge . . . Do you see Kent among the boulders? |
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| Finally, on the ridge! Now the fun can begin! |
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| As you can see, the middle section of the ridge had quite the interesting rock formations . . . Although, from a distance, it looked as if getting around these boulders was going to be difficult, there always seemed to be a path that was fairly easy to negotiate |
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| Looking back at were we have come from . . . as you can see, the views are getting pretty good! (That's Zion in the far distance. The interstate is somewhere between us and the Park) |
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| Nearing Peak 4762 . . . just above the dip to Kent's left (Peak 5101 is the highest most point of the ridge) |
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| Kent standing on Peak 4762 and deciding whether to continue on to Peak 5101 (He was concerned that the two and half hours of side hilling were beginning to take a toll on his knee) |
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| It was a difficult decision, but in the end we headed back down (We estimated we had another 400 ft of scrambling and a minimum 30 minutes more to reach the top) |
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| Almost back down . . . and a little dejected . . . but knowing it was probably the right choice |
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| One last look at Peak 5101 (It would be fairly easy to make this into a loop hike once you reached the top) |
While this ridge hike is certainly doable, it wasn't meant to be completed by us today. That being said, we still managed about 4.5 miles (r/t) and around 1500 ft of ascent . . . a nice four hour workout! If you decide to try this hike, it would be easy to make it into a loop once you reached the top, by walking north and coming down a smaller ridge on the northeast side. Come to think about it, maybe we'll try it, again, but in reverse order.
