Molly's Nipple, elev 4590

I moved down to Hurricane, Utah about a month ago and the 15 hour a day 7 day a week work weeks started taking their toll on me. So when one of my first days off came, I thought I better get back into hiking shape. It had been almost a month and a half since my last hike – Kings peak, and I knew that I had lost my hiking legs.

Mollies Nipple is a landmark that can be seen from Hurricane to St. George and because of this, many seek to climb it although it only sits at an elevation of 4590.

The trail head starts at the South East corner of the Rainbow Canyon subdivision located just south of the town of Hurricane (although it is still in the Hurricane city limits). Because I live in Rainbow canyon, I just walked to the corner, went through a break in the barbed wire fence, climbed down and back up a small wash that comes out of the canyon, and started on the faint trail.

The first half-mile of this hike is very steep and took its toll on me since I wasn’t in hiking shape. But I used the frequent rests to look down into my back yard to try to spot the fam. After about a half mile, I reached the top of the steep part of the ridge, and it flattened out a bit. This is where Mollies Nipple becomes visible again.

Up until this point, it was pretty easy to follow the trail, but here, it became a little more difficult. It really didn’t matter though because it was obvious where I needed to go and the only object impeding progress was the occasional sagebrush.

The eventual way to approach the summit is on the East Side as 30-foot cliffs guard the other 3 sides. The East Side, though, offers a surprising easy walk/climb up and after about an hour I was on the summit.

The views from the top were incredible! I could see the “D” on the mountain above Dixie College to the west. To the North I could see the pine Valley Mountains and I15. To the east I could see Zion National Park’s highest point, West Temple.

The hike back down was fast and only took me a little over a half an hour. The last part of the hike was very steep, just as it was on the way up, but seemed even steeper on the way down.

The hike was 2.24 miles and took just under 2 hours to complete. Its close proximity to my home should make it a good warm up hike for hikes I hope to go on later this summer.