Point 6260 - 4.22.2016
A photo of the GPS track for my trip to Point 6260... the red line is my route up... and the green line is the route down... 6.3 miles roundtrip, gaining 1570 feet of elevation.
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Ideally a person would park in the small parking lot at the east end of the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel... but the lot was full so we drove a bit further on the highway and parked in the first available pull-out... Bridge Mountain is the white pyramid in the center of the photo.
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I walked back down the highway to the small parking lot at the east end of the tunnel and got this look at Gifford Canyon... I wasted 20 minutes here trying to find the route.
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I will drop into the canyon by going under the bridge at the east end of the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel.
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It was a little gnarly getting down to the canyon floor.
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Oh joy... I found this water at the bottom of the bridge route... and it was thigh deep... so I lost more time by having to remove my boots, wade through it and put the boots back on.
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I made it through the water... looking back at the bridge at the east end of the tunnel.
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This is a closer look at what I saw from the parking lot.
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Finally on route... higher than I needed to be... but still on route... looking back at the parking lot at the end of the tunnel.
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After hiking above the canyon for 20 minutes, I got back down to the canyon floor.
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After hiking for ~1.5 miles it was time to leave the canyon floor and head up on slickrock.
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At ~5680 feet I saw a nice set of cairns that led me off route.
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Looking down at the Gifford Canyon floor.
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The cairns led me to this spot... a Class 3/4 spot... I felt comfortable going up, but if I had to come back down, it could have been problematic... so I back off and followed the cliff band back to the south.
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Working my way south underneath a cliff band... easier terrain now.
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Above the cliff band and the welcome site of more slickrock... my original target was Destination Peak on the right... but I had wasted too much time on the route and settled for Point 6260 on the far left.
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Working my way toward Point 6260 on slickrock... here looking back at my route.
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Jenny Peak in the center of the photo... and Jenny's Nipple on the right.
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High enough now to see the top of The East Temple (has a red hat).
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Destination Peak on the left... my original target.
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Hepworth Peak on the right.
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Looking east from Point 6260.
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Heading back down on slickrock.
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I will need to work my way down to the canyon floor in the lower right corner of the photo.
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Back where I can see the parking lot... but this time I will not go back up the bridge route I took earlier in the day. Instead, I will go up the embankment leading directly to the parking lot.
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