Progeny Peak

   

 Furlough! It is not always the best thing to not get paid anymore, but a little time off is not always a bad thing. People look forward to their first day of retirement, but I had been looking forward to the first day of furlough. What was I going to do? Well, the same thing I get to do for work, go for a hike in the park. Jacqueline and Zyla were in Arizona for Thanksgiving visiting family, so I took the opportunity to have the day to myself. We had just had Greg and Annette over for dinner.  Greg had suggested a hike called Progeny Peak on the east side. This was a route popularized by Bo Beck and Tanya on their website zionnational-park.com.
For a long time I had been resisting these routes since the east side was so easy to explore on its own. With Greg's advice, I finally decided to give it a try. The funny thing is that I had actually done a lot of the hike before. (see East Side Arch ) I had just never had the urge to try to get to the top of the peak. So this time I had a destination instead of just randomly wandering the east side.
 I parked by the beginning to Spry and then just started up the slickrock. The beginning of this hike takes you to the Two Pines Arch, but I had already been there before, so I just went up a different route. It proved not too difficult. I followed the contours of the slickrock until finding a pretty easy slope to the top.
 This was such a great route because it was almost entirely slickrock. When I topped out, I found a gigantic cairn and a lot of amazing views. This is really a spectacular spot because you could see many of Zion's most famous peaks. I sat down for a while and went through the summit register where I found Greg's entry and added something to it.
I snapped many photos, but was disappointed to see that there was graffiti carved on the rock. Why does anyone feel the need to leave a scar in the rock with their initials on them. There turned out to be a half dozen different names carved in the rock. Luckily, I was the leading expert on graffiti removal, so I searched the summit for some hardened rock. I found some and bashed it in getting rid of a horrible idea by a not so smart person. I enjoyed the views for a few minutes more, but I eventually all good things have to come to an end.
 So, I went back down. I had a bit of trouble finding the way that I came up and got myself into some trickier downclimbing, but it wasn't anything to get too nervous about.
I could look back up and see the arch on my way down, but still didn't feel the need to hike up to it on this day. I did see a couple of other people out there wandering amongst the slickrock. They did not seem to have a purpose, but that is okay. It is funny how when I go on a hike to a place that I think no one else goes, there is always someone there. People are pushing farther out into the fringes of Zion National Park. I am okay with that, because the more people see how beautiful these places are, the more they should want to protect it.
 Except for maybe those few people who put the awful graffiti in the rock. I was plenty pleased by Greg's recommendation and Bo and Tanya's route description. I figured the next day, I would give another one of these east side routes a try.