Tooele Tower

Drive back and forth between Mosquito Cove and Zion enough and you can't help but wonder about that toothy ridge above Rockville.

The most exotic-looking tooth, far left on the skyline from the road, has a short and sweet route on the backside path of least resistance. A perfect way to try out Zion sandstone without shuttles, tourists, and big wall logistics. We got beta from a drawn topo at the backcountry ranger desk in Zion and from m.project.

The rock formation you climb seems to be called either Aunt Jemima or Mrs. Butterworth's. The route name is one of those, or possibly Tooele's Tower as noted in the Zion ranger beta file.

It takes an hour and a half to get to the base. In mid May it was in the shade until 11, full sun a couple hours later. It's a little sandy and clearly doesn't get traveled all that often, but the rap stations are well established (bolts and trees).

The ranger beta called it 9+, but we thought the moves off the second belay were a little stiffer. However, you have the belay bolts at your chest so you could aid it if it felt dicey.

Fun route. Great summit with great views; a gentle adventure climb. Please try to minimize desert impact by staying as best you can on what faint trails there are to the base of the route.

Turn onto 200 E street in Rockville. Cross the bridge. Very soon the road turns right. Just before this turn, take a paved road (left turn, or sort of continue straight) which turns into a dirt road in a couple hundred yards.

The road gets worse over the next ten minutes, winding up past a cattle grate, private road, etc., until you get to a good-looking dirt pullout on the right.

It is doable at a snail's pace in a low clearance car, but take the truck if you have it.

Park at the dirt pullout. Sorry, no mileages, we didn't have an odometer, but we both thought it was the only pullout that we saw, and no turnoffs before we got there looked tempting at all.

There is an obvious, excellent dirt singletrack heading straight towards Eagle Crag from the pullout. Take this. The trail stays excellent as you walk towards the crag, then switchback up to the ridge left of the crag. The trail continues on the backside of the ridge.

Keep an eye on the Aunt Jemima/Mrs. Butterworth's formation because it looks very different from the backside.

There doesn't seem to be a climbers' trail to the actual route. The best way we found was a drainage below the backside. Take this up steep, loose, desert sand and rock and bush to the notch behind the crag, and then check out the topo.