Flagpole Mountain in Zion... Wait, You Mean We Have to Hike *UP* Mystery?

[deathtointernet]

This one is a little different from my usual canyoneering fare... though it did involve a canyon in the end. In fact I couldn't even decide which forum to post this in.. a bit of climbing, a bit of canyoneering, some hiking... but I guess it's peak-bagging so here we go. Flagpole Mountain isn't exactly something frequently visited, but it is certainly unique and exciting. It's a plateau on the western rim of Mystery Canyon, separated from the main rim by a narrow saddle. Getting there involves some bushwhacking, rappelling, and easy climbing. It's the getting back that involves some real work... It sounded interesting so I talked Elaine Hurd into joining me for a bit of adventure...



The top of Flagpole Mountain's summit cap from the always enjoyable bushwhack along the rim of Mystery Canyon. Hooray for manzanita!



Getting to the saddle involves a single 90 foot rappel, first down a short cliff and then steep dirt. There was webbing on the tree at the top, but it was very bad, and I replaced it. I ended up replacing all the webbing on the adventure, simply because it seemed like it had been out here for a long time without being used. Figured it would be that way from how infrequently the route must be traveled.



The webbing around the tree... torn almost entirely through right at the knot. Had either of us actually rappelled on this I doubt it would've held. Um, hence why it always pays to check your anchors? Especially on a route like this.



On the saddle between the rim and Flagpole Mountain. We had to scramble down a short cliff to get to the actual saddle itself, a narrow thing full of cactus. Ahead is the short climb to the top of the Flagpole plateau. To the left the saddle gently descends into Not-Mystery Canyon... the last place you'd want to go.



To the right of the saddle is the huge drop into Mystery Canyon. Since we pulled our rope from the saddle rappel this will be our descent route later. I gave it a quick look, but didn't linger. It's a problem for later, and at the moment I needed to focus on what I was doing.



Elaine climbing up the short cliff to the top. Nothing major here... a crack in the cliffs allows you to gain the flatter terrain above. Holds are big, we didn't use the rope for anything except pulling up the packs. I had brought my rock shoes but never thought of putting them on despite how terribly worn my discontinued approach shoes are.



A short scramble and lots more bushwhacking brought us to the summit... which was delightfully flat and clear of brush. The views were outstanding and unique. Absolutely no signs of the prior visitors. This is the view across Zion Canyon, looking a bit north. To the right of the white mesa in the center is Imlay Canyon.



Looking straight across Zion Canyon at Horse Pasture Plateau, the Telephone Canyon Bench and the sneak route into Imlay.



Incredibly we were able to look straight down about two thousand feet or so into the Narrows, just above Mystery Falls. From time to time we could make out the very tiny dots of hikers heading up the river.



The Telephone Canyon Bench, Horse Pasture Plateau, and Mount Majestic. You can make out the final switchbacks of the West Rim Trail going up to Cabin Spring on the white cliffs of the plateau.



Looking south down Zion Canyon. Angels Landing of course is in the center. It seems less impressive every day.



Yours Truly on the summit of Flagpole Mountain.



The 'flagpole' of Flagpole Mountain. This pillar of rock is actually visible from the West Rim Trail... which gives me another great story to tell the tourists while hiking along there.



Returning to the saddle we managed to get covered in cactus spines which I'm still digging out of odd places. We prepped for the big descent... it would've been easier to have left the rope on the first rappel and used my ascending gear to escape, but I wanted the full experience. So we searched around for the correct place to start the descent sequence. After some debate I decided to do a very steep downward traverse north from the saddle to a large pine tree, and lo and behold I found the old webbing, which I replaced, and then set up the first rappel.



It's something like 480 feet from the saddle to the bottom of Mystery Canyon, but the correct descent route manages to get down with a longest rappel of 100 feet. We had a 200 foot rope and a 200 foot pull cord (in case the route couldn't be found or the trees got taken out, requiring a longer rappel). The purple line is the downward traverse to the first rappel (green), 60 feet from a tree root. We then did a rather exhilarating downclimb on very steep, loose dirt (yellow) to the next rappel (blue) 40 feet from another root down a manzanita-covered slope to a very small ledge. A tree on this ledge was used for the 100 foot rappel (red) to a sandy gully (light blue). The gully led to another tree for the last rappel (purple), 90 feet down a nice cliff to another gully and a rockslide (pink) that finally brought us to the canyon floor. Quite the complex sequence!



Looking down the second rappel. While downclimbing to the tree root used as an anchor Elaine was having a little difficulty with her pack, took it off and set it down for a moment. Yeah, you know how this goes. Next thing it's crashing through the brush towards me. I considered grabbing for it but in an instant knew it would just as likely take me with it, so on it went, plummeting down 300 feet. It's the sort of thing that can sketch you out a little, knowing you're in a position to do the same with one mistake. The only concern for me was the 200 foot pull cord, which was in the pack. Now we were committed to the route with only our main rope.



Hanging out on the ledge above the 100 foot rappel... the ledge was small enough that there really wasn't much of a way to stay on it without being clipped into the anchor. But we're getting closer to the bottom. Great fall colors down there!



Elaine coming down the 100 foot rappel, which was the best one of the bunch, coming down a nice, clean wall.



We made the 90 foot final rappel, and started downclimbing a steep, loose (what's new?) gully when we found Elaine's pack, which had miraculously survived the plunge. Her water bladder had exploded, which meant we were down to just my water for the exit hike, but it was something just to find it again. We continued down the gully, made a short traverse over to a big rockslide, and followed that to the bottom of Mystery. What a relief to be on solid ground again!



But yeah, there was one more thing... the 1000+ foot ascent up Death Gully to escape Mystery. We actually made good time over the loose trail. We hit the top just after six, and had a nice easy stroll along the East Mesa Trail back to the car. Total time car-to-car was right around 9 hours. Definitely not a frequently done route, but really fun and exciting. Anyone looking to try it should have solid technical skills and a good head for the big wall descent into Mystery, though it could be avoided by ascending a fixed rope at the first drop. I redid all of the webbing, though with winter coming who knows what condition it will be in soon. I would definitely recommend bringing anchor building material of your own. The start of the big rappel sequence is quite far below and to the north of the saddle. If you're standing on the saddle looking for trees with slings you're in the wrong place. As of a few days ago a single 200 foot rope is sufficient for the route. The hike out of Mystery isn't a ton of fun... though this would make for an incredible start to a descent of Mystery Canyon during a time when one has more daylight to play with.

[trackrunner]

nice

[cp0915]

An excellent trip report and fantastic pictures! Quite a cool adventure you two had. As a lover of backcountry adventures in Zion, I'm curious to know what else is on your radar...?

Not to totally hijack this thread, but between this and RJ's note about his recent efforts in and around the Kolob Fingers, I must say that I'm stoked that the fall Zion peakbagging season is beginning! That being said, I intend to be spending at least Friday-Sunday in the park each of the next 5 weeks, starting in just a couple days ~ yeah!. If anyone is up for some exploratory stuff, please shoot me an e-mail at cp0915(at)hotmail(dot)com. PM's don't work well for me; I just don't visit Bogley often enough to see when I have PM's. A big mistake on my part, I know, as everytime I visit the site I find myself totally stoked for canyon country!

[Udink]

Looks like a great trip, especially the descent into Mystery. And the fall colors! Nice.

[Scott P]

Nice!

[ibenick]

Wow. Epic adventure and great report! You always post great stuff.

[powderglut]

Nice one! Wife and I were on E Mesa Tr on Friday, on the way to Observation Pt. Stopped at the top of Mystery to peek in.

[oldno7]

Cool TR