
Right Fork Trailhead.

Entering Zion Wilderness. Cougar Mountain seen ahead. We dropped down a few hundred feet on the Right Fork Trail down to North Creek.

Ascending the slopes below Cougar Mountain.

Our weakness left of center (a crack not visible from here).

View back. Our cars are on the mesa somewhat near where the shadowline is above.

Approaching steeper terrain. The minor cliff band ahead has lots of options. We pulled some Class 3/4 moves. I didn't include a photo of this because you'll likely be able to find an easier option.

Ascending the steep cliff band.

The crack weakness we used to access the Cougar Mountain mesa. In the center you can see a big boulder that has a crawl-through space.

View back as we enter the crack.

Luke in the boulder crawl-through.

Just past the crawl through, a steep chute.

View back down the chute. You can see Sam in the center, just above the rock crawl-through. Just behind me is the mesa rim.

View along the rim. Our ascent to the rim came from just behind Sam (green shirt).

A nice little arch along the rim.

Cougar Mountain ahead.

Some Class 3 obstacles along the ridge crest, most avoidable by staying a little lower.

Cougar Mountain.

Summit of Cougar Mountain. Gorgeous views. The Bishoprics are poking out in the center.

Cougar Mountain view toward the Guardian Angels.

Descending to the southeast from Cougar Mountain. It's pretty straightforward, but has some hoodoos and other obstacles to avoid.

We entered a sandy wash for a short time, view back toward Cougar Mountain.

Farther away, a view back toward Cougar Mountain.

We wrapped below the south side of a hill and then got this nice view of the route to come. We jogged through the meadow ahead.

View back toward Cougar Mountain.

At the end of the meadow, we kept mostly to the left of the ridge crest, side-hilling on the far left in this photo instead.

Descending to the saddle of Cougar Mountain and Zippy, which is also the head of Trail Canyon, which is seen on the left. Now to ascend the slope ahead.

View back toward Cougar Mountain as we ascend the slope.

We got funneled into this weakness in the hoodoos toward the top.

Class 2/3 stuff to ascend through the hoodoos, view back.

The meadow ahead. Elephant Head visible far right, Zippy (our last of the day later) far left.

View back toward Cougar Mountain as we head through the meadow.

At the end of the meadow, we entered a wide slickrock bowl.

The bowl descended into this narrow canyon, a hoodoo maze.

Class 2/3 within the canyon.

A Class 3 exit ahead to escape the canyon. There's at least one more option farther down the canyon, but I couldn't remember where it was at the time. This one worked fine.

Animal trails leading down into Terry Wash. The Bishoprics visible in the distance.

Terry Wash.

Looking back within Terry Wash.

Terry Wash was froze, quite different from my previous visit. Also the seasonal waterfall I mentioned in my last report for the area was completely dry.

View back into Terry Wash after leaving it. The eastern side of Elephant Head visible here.

The Hamster on the left, The Bishopric West right of center. We headed to the slickrock on the right.

View back, Zippy visible above Sam.

Slickrock at the base of The Bishopric West. Getting here on animal trails helped avoid a lot of brush.

Along the base of The Bishopric West, as we wrap around to The Bishopric East. Elephant Head (left of center) and Zippy (right of center) visible in the distance.

Jennings Wash, the area separating the Bishoprics. We ascended to the far right in this photo to get to the ridge of The Bishopric East. Class 2-5, depending on where you go up.

On the colorful ridge of The Bishopric East.

View back.

Looks very steep from here.

Class 2/3 for much of the ascent.

More progress up the steep slab.

View back on our way up The Bishopric East. Elephant Head visible right of center. You can see the southwestern slickrock of The Bishopric West.

A Class 3/4 move on steep slab.

A short Class 3 move, summit ahead.


Narrow section of ridge. Past this we (mostly) kept to the left of the crest, avoiding the scariest stuff.

View back at the narrow section of ridge. West Temple visible top left.

Just left of the ridge on loose slabs and sand. It feels exposed, but a fall likely won't push you off the face.

Class 2/3 on loose stuff.

Nearing the summit. We kept left again at the steep stuff ahead.

View back at our progress, Luke on steep and loose stuff.

The Bishopric West visible on the right. Sam also seen here coming up to the summit area.

Summit area, final few feet to the true summit.

Gorgeous views to the east.

Another shot east.

Close-up toward The Bishopric West.

On our way down The Bishopric East, view toward The Bishopric West. We ascended the slabs on the left in this photo.

Class 2 slabs down.

Class 2 slabs up The Bishopric West.

Reaching the crest.

Along the crest. The Bishopric East visible top right.

On my previous ascent of The Bishopric West, we stayed to the right of the crest and low. This time we kept to the crest and encountered this Class 3/4 move.

Class 3/4 move.

View back, Elephant Head left of center and Zippy right of center. Terry Wash separates them.

Just below the summit of The Bishopric West.

The Bishopric West summit, view toward The Bishopric East and North.

Close-up toward West Tempt and the ridgeline we took earlier for The Bishopric East.

Close-up toward The Hamster, next.

Close-up toward Zippy.

Navigating s short spurt of horrible brush on the way to The Hamster, the summit of which is visible top right.

Ascending The Hamster, view back toward The Bishopric West.

Easy slickrock terrain.

Flat section before the summit.

Approaching the steep slickrock bit to the summit of The Hamster.

View toward the Guardian Angels to the north.

Nearing the summit (well, false summit).

View back down.

The true The Hamster summit ahead.

Close-up to the north.

Close-up toward The Bishopric North and West.

Heading down The Hamster into Terry Wash. Zippy visible on the right, our next goal.

Leaving Terry Wash at the base of Zippy (ahead), where the terrain looked more tame.

Luke inspecting possible options through the hoodoos around Zippy's base.

Sam found this Class 3/4 option.

Class 3/4 through the hoodoos on Zippy's base.

Ascending Class 2/2+ up Zippy.

View back, Terry Wash visible up top in shadow.

Ascending Zippy.

Nearing Zippy summit, view toward The Bishoprics (left) and Terry Wash (right), at the base of Elephant Head.

Zippy summit ahead. I wrapped around to the left and found a Class 2 way up.

Zippy summit, close-up toward The Hamster and The Bishoprics.

View toward Cougar Mountain in the distance. We headed west sort of along the ridge, avoiding outcrops along the way.

On a topo map, the western reach of The Hamster looks tame, but it's riddled with pinnacles, seen here. We dropped down to the sand below as soon as we could. From here we made it back to the head of Trail Canyon.

Descending Trail Canyon.

A social trail within Trail Canyon that avoids a major cliff band. Refer to my other trip report for more details regarding Trail Canyon and Right Fork of North Creek - I ran out of light and was also sort of sick of taking photos for the day.
Hire me or show me some love!
Hire/refer me as a web developer or send me a few bucks if you find my site useful. I’m not sponsored, so all fees are out-of-pocket and my time preparing trip reports is unpaid. I really appreciate it!