The Nipple Expedition

You can see her from just about anywhere in Washington County, a geological feature whose name is not only an apt descriptor but also a social icon in this ultra-conservative culture, Mollie's Nipple. That's her poking up in the upper right hand corner of this view down our street, and you can see how she got her name.
We've wanted to climb Mollie's Nipple for awhile and since relocating to Hurricane, her ever-presence got us even more motivated, so before the weather gets any warmer, we thought we make the hike today. Ginger and Maryanne in their enthusiasm were ready to go, though they were in the wrong car.
There are two approaches to Mollie, one from the base where the trailhead is just outside a little housing development, and the other from a rather technical dirt road that comes off of Highway 59 east of Hurricane. There are more internet descriptions than there are approaches to this hike and we followed one that took us to Gould's Trail that leads to the Hurricane overlook. This is part of a great mountain bike trail that winds around the Hurricane Cliffs for 21 miles, but it is not the way to Mollie's Nipple.


After another online check of alternative routes, we decided to point the H3 in Mollie's general direction and just go.
I could post a laundry list of directions, forks in the road, coral landmarks, and a dike and such, but just driving in Mollie's general direction as the road wanders will get you there. 

But not any vehicle will do the job. A high clearance, four-wheel drive is needed to navigate to Mollie's base. 
This is the most technical part of the road, about a 23 degree incline over high steps and crossing axles, is on the last two miles of the drive. 
Not far from the end of the road that terrain turns from limestone to a layer of the Moenkopi Formation, climbing from the Paleozoic to the Mesozoic layers, all at the edge of the Colorado Plateau. 
Closer to the summit the trail turns technical with basalt boulders, remnants of the volcanic activity that formed Mollie's Nipple during the Quaternary period, over a million and a half years ago. This, like most every other vertical hike in this area, is time travel at its finest. 
We reached the top and celebrated with incredible views of the St. George Basin and the wonderful color of the Plateau. 
 We ate lunch, watered the dogs, soaked in 360 degrees of awesome, and headed back down the Nipple.
On our way ambling back to Highway 59, Pink Floyd's Time was playing on the radio, a perfect score to our dirt road time travel. Driving along I spotted a little book on the side of the road, reversed back and picked it up. It's Eric Hansen's On and Off the Beaten Path, a great narrative on hikes in this area, including detailed instructions on how to get to Mollie's Nipple. Bonus. Some hiker is sorry to have lost it, I'm sure.

Finder's keepers, loser's weepers.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Smoky Mountain Road on The Grand Staircase

Image
This trip was scrubbed two weeks ago when it was originally scheduled due to the unplanned surgery reattaching my left biceps tendon. So it's with great relief to get to a point where we could make this little overland trek in a minimum of pain. As with any adventure that takes us east out of St. George, this Grand Staircase trek took us through Zion Canyon. The idea was to drive to Escalante, Utah, where the trailhead to the Smoky Mountain Road can be found down a side street not far from the BLM offices on the south side of town. We're always glad to get back on the road or back on the water, to move, explore, share, talk, eat, sleep and drink in the proximity of each other. Mindy was able to get off work earlier than expected giving us a head start and putting us in Escalante a couple of hours ahead of time. The plan was to camp at Escalante Outfitters, a barely-an-acre parcel set up for tents, not RTTs. So we camped in the parking lot, fully warned that a weddin...
Read more

Our Hie to Kolob

Image
We first camped here two weeks ago when my daughter joined me for an overnighter and line-wetting at Kolob Reservoir. This, for the most part, is a locals’ secret, with much consternation should anyone reveal the secret handshake that is Kolob in general. Even the National Park Service seems to speak in whispers about this area. Kolob Terrace defies description and has been in a perpetual tug-of-war between NPS, BLM and the People. And seeing of what all three of these parties are capable, maybe it’s a good thing. The name Kolob comes up unrecognizable in my spell-check because it’s origin defies any kind of mainstream description. In short, it’s the planet closest to heaven according to Mormon scripture. Indeed, an apt nomenclature for a place this beautiful. But, I didn’t photograph the area, just the environs of the campground at Lava Point, a name much more to the point. The camp is close to complete after a redo with the sale of the Montero , starting from scratc...
Read more

that curvy undulating ribbon of black

Image
My sisters used to play guitar and sing Peter, Paul and Mary's 500 Miles , a folk song that would haunt my earliest dreams as a four year-old kid. The memory of the dream is still pretty vivid; I'm on a road walking west to the horizon and it's getting dark. The feeling is even more vivid, a combination of fear and purpose. Throw in the Mamas & The Papas' California Dreaming and the sum for me is the reason I'm still drawn to the West Coast. That, and being land-locked in the Southwest. If you've been reading this blog you'll know we've been making the best of that as well. Mindy's always been patient and tolerant enough to go along for the ride. A trip we've been planning to Eugene to pick up our daughter from Duckland for a break turned into a trek up the northern extension of the Pacific Coast Highway; the Shoreline Highway, the Redwood Highway and the Oregon Coast Highway, that curvy undulating ribbon of black that forces all your ...
Read more