
Starting out from just outside the scenic road. Juniper Canyon is seen ahead. A trail leads to the mouth of the canyon.

Getting closer to the mouth of Juniper Canyon.

The trail becomes difficult to follow due to the many climber trails leaving the main branch. I recommend sticking just right of the drainage.

Eventually we dropped into Juniper Canyon and did the typical Red Rock boulder-hopping obstacle fun. It was short-lived, though.

View back, a social trail leads out of the drainage.

The social trail leads just above the drainage before dropping back in. There's a talus field (seen left of center) that appears at the base of Juniper Peak. The brown-colored face above is known to climbers as Brownstone Wall.

View back as we continue up the drainage, a nice social trail preventing any unpleasant brush.

At the base of the talus field.

View back down Juniper Canyon.

Austin starting up the talus field, Class 2.

Past the talus field, a wide sandstone slope/ramp leads along the base of the Juniper Peak's southern cliff.

View back into Juniper Canyon, where we came out of.

Another shot back.

Cairns mark the way, but there are at least two routes up the sandstone slab. I recommend just keeping high to avoid unnecessary Class 4/5 lower down.

Ascending the ramp toward the center of this photo.

A shot back along the ramp, the impressive Rainbow Wall visible in the background.

The slab sort of fades away, and a social trail leads to the right and up to the east ridge of Juniper Peak.

The route wraps around to get to the east ridge.

Heading up the east ridge, which follows the trees in the gully ahead.

Class 2, a nice social trail marks the way.

(Photo from 2017) Tara on ascending along the east ridge of Juniper Peak, Juniper Canyon seen below on the left.

View back.

Continuing to ascend on Class 2, a cool feature seen along the wall.

At the top of the ridge, cairns mark a route up the big boulders on the left, nothing exceeding Class 3.

Navigating the well-cairned boulders.

A Class 4 option just below the summit. This can be avoided by dropping into the small gully just behind Austin...

...where you can locate a rabbit hole.

Class 2 to the summit block of Juniper Peak. Bridge Mountain seen left, Calico Hills on the right.

Juniper Peak summit block on the left, Rainbow Wall on the right.

Bridge Mountain from the summit of Juniper Peak.

Starting along the ridgeline to Gunsight Notch Peak, the small yellow bump seen center.

View back toward the descent from Juniper Peak.

(Photo from 2017) Shot of Tara happily descending from Juniper Peak.

Class 2/3 obstacles down the ridge.

A close-up of the crux. The crack in the center is where people rappel from. The Class 4/5 route wraps just to the right of the crack.

View back at Austin descending to the saddle of Juniper Peak and Gunsight Notch Peak.

Class 3 fun traversing just below the ridge.

A Class 4 move up a small crack, just below the crux.

Just past the small crack, the crux seen here, a long crack with some Class 5 movement. On my first visit, I was able to locate a slightly easier route on the left, but I couldn't locate it on my second attempt. Weird.

View down the Class 5 crack. The rest of the photos are from 2017, the first time doing this route, hence the change in photo lighting.

Tara on the Class 5 crack, dog in her bag.

Above the crux, view back along the ridge. Seen here is the rappel spot you'd likely use if you came from Gunsight Notch Peak instead of the way we came.

Looking toward Gunsight Notch Peak.

View back as we continue along the ridge to Gunsight Notch Peak, Juniper Canyon to the right.

Gunsight Notch Peak is the yellow-colored nubbin on the top right.

Looking back toward Juniper Peak from near the Gunsight Notch Peak summit.

Descending Gunsight Notch Peak in order to enter Gunsight Notch for the final descent.

Rainbow Wall above, Gunsight Notch below.

Dropping into Gunsight Notch.

Tight, Class 2/3, with some Class 3+.

Tara got this shot of me looking out as we start down Gunsight Notch.

It's steep, but nothing too crazy.



There was still some snow in here.


A bypassable chockstone by going through a hole.

A Class 3+ section where someone kindly left a fixed rope.


There's lots of brush, but a social trail leads through it. If you're not having fun, it's likely because you didn't locate the most well-traveled trail through the brush.

Looking down into Juniper Canyon after descending through Gunsight Notch, where we completed the mini-loop.
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