An intense scramble requiring very tricky routefinding
Johnson Mountain (right) as seen from near Springdale early in the approach. The infamous red cliff band that complicated our descent of The Watchman on a previous trip can be seen in the foreground. There are several ways to overcome it, but routefinding can be tricky from above.
A major weakness in the cliffs allows 4th class passage to the top of the Johnson Mountain Ridge. Here Dwight is scrambling up the steep, exposed terrain.
The views while scrambling up to the Johnson Mountain Ridge are incredible. Mount Kinesava (left) and The West Temple (right) tower over the town of Springdale.
After climbing out of the deep wash between Johnson Mountain & The Watchman, Johnson Mountain's East Face comes into view. We never found the fabled 4th class route to the summit. It was originally discovered only on the descent after a party who'd climbed a much more difficult route followed goat droppings down from the summit.
We scrambled around the southern end of the east face for several hours in search of the magic route. 3rd & 4th class climbing always delivered us to moderate 5th class terrain. We never did figure it out, but not for lack of trying.
After a little searching this gully looked like the best option. Exposure and tricky scrambling convinced us to rope up. Dwight cautiously led and found decent pro placements. The climbing was perhaps 5.5ish in a few places. At the top we traversed south a bit and found a bolted sport route! Although we were only 150 feet or so below the summit, we lacked the proper gear and time to tackle this. Dwight led up a few bolts on surprisingly reasonable terrain before backing off. I have no idea what route we found, but the bolts were in great shape and closely spaced and the belay stations had bolts and chains.
Time ran out and we had to give up our search and begin the descent. We rappelled the top part of the gully off of a not-so-conveniently placed tree using 20 feet of webbing. We considered using the horn shown here but couldn't bring ourselves to trust the sandstone. A second rappel from a more solid horn and a third from a decent tree got us back to easy ground.
The Johnson Mountain Ridge as seen from near Springdale. The three highpoints are (left to right) "North Johnson", "Middle Johnson" & Johnson Mountain. The weakness in the cliff band that allows passage up and over the ridge is located between "North Johnson" and "Middle Johnson".
Johnson Mountain looks especially impressive lit up by the setting sun. Looking like that, who could be upset with him for keeping his mightly summit a secret? He gave us a fine adventure. I shall return!