2016 Trip to the Slot Canyons with Brandon

It's no secret that one of my favorite places to visit is the slot canyons of southern Utah/northern Arizona. I have spent more time there than any other spot on my backpacking/hiking trips. It is where I got my name, CanyonMan. This is where it all started. In 2007, 4 buddies and I spent 5 days exploring places like Buckskin Gulch, The Wave, Hole-in-the-rock road, Spooky Gulch, Peek-a-boo slot and the Golden Cathedral.

Since then, I've been to Antelope Canyon, Zion, Bryce and many other parts of canyon country. In May of 2016, I had a conference in Las Vegas and had my son fly out on the last day for a trip to the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

One of the many things I love about the rugged terrain of canyon country, and especially Escalante, is the ability to sort of do what I call car backpacking. Along the Hole-in-the-rock-road, you can find primitive camping allowing you to bring some good eats and drinks and just day hike into some of the most spectacular slot canyons in the US. We often bring some ribeye steaks, potatoes and carrots along with a little whiskey for a night cap.

The Hole-in-the-rock road is a 55+-mile washboard road leaving out of Escalante, UT and headed to the Colorado River. About every 5-10 miles, there is a spot to park and hike in to another set of slots. It is the old route that the original members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints took in covered wagons to bring supplies from the river to Salt Lake City. As rugged as it is now, I can't imagine doing this on wooden wheels loaded down with supplies. I've never actually made it to the Hole-in-the-rock road (HITR), but I hear there is one that leads down to the river. I hear the last few miles are pretty rough and require high-clearance and 4WD.

On this trip, our plan was to drive up from Vegas and find our first nights camp near Zebra slot at around mile 8 on HITR. We arrived rather late, so we just camped in the parking lot at the trailhead. My son slept in the back of the SUV and I made a cozy bed on the ground. This gave me a great sunset and sunrise view, plus a fantastic show of the stars in the Utah sky. If you've never been to this part of the world, you will not even know how many stars you can see in the sky. There is far less light pollution here than anywhere else in the US. There are so many stars that can be seen, it is difficult to make out the most common, and easily recognizable constellations, like the Big Dipper and Orion's belt.

My bed on the ground next to our SUV.

Day 1 - Zebra Slot

In the morning, we got up and had a simple breakfast bar, and headed out to find Zebra slot. I have been here a number of times, but this was to be Brandon's first trip to this slot. The trail is about 5.5 miles out-and-back. The trail starts across HITR from the parking lot and heads west through a mostly flat, open area. After about 1.5 miles, the walls start to rise up and close in forming a small canyon. You will have to pass through a cattle guard and continue to head northwest as the canyon walls grow and tighten up. At around the 2.2 mile mark, you'll come upon a wide open wash. Turn left and head north up the wash, keeping to the right, but staying in the wash, you'll eventually run right into the mouth of the slot.

I have been in this slot when it has been bone dry and when it is full of water. On this trip, it was full of water. When there's water in it, be prepared to get wet. There's typically no need to swim, but you're gonna be up to your waist in a soupy mess and an occasionally a few dead animals.

You'll know early on if there's gonna be water in the slot

Brandon wasn't too sure about wading

Just one of the dead animals you'll find floating

It gets about 2-3 feet deep in spots

Selfie

Zebra slot gets its name from the striations in the sandstone

If you are up to it, you can continue down the wash from the Zebra to a small slot known as Tunnel Slot. It's been full of water every time I've been there.You can pretty much just poke your head in unless you feel like swimming.

Tunnel Slot entrance

Brandon practicing Stemming

Retrace your footsteps back down the wash, or do what I enjoy doing and go cross country across the plateau above the wash until you dead end back at where the trail hit the wash on the way in. Then, follow the trail back to the parking lot.

From the parking lot, we drove down another 18 miles or so past the Dry Fork turnoff where the trailhead for Spooky, Peek-a-boo and Brimstone is. We found another turnoff with a durable camping surface and made camp for the night. We broke out the steaks and potatoes for a delicious post-day1 hike meal.

Day 2 - Spooky, Peek-a-boo and Brimstone

In the morning, we drove back to the trailhead. The Dry Fork road off HITR is really rough. It's located at around mile 27 on HITR. Without high-clearance, you'll only be able to make it about halfway to the trailhead and will need to walk the rest of the way. There's ample parking at the trailhead and this is usually one of the busiest trailheads along HITR, so plan on arriving early.

From the parking lot, you will head west down a sandstone ridge winding your way down about 100-200 vertical feet to the wash below. Once you get to the bottom, follow the trail hugging the sandstone wall on the right. After about .5 miles or less, you'll see the mouth of Peek-a-boo slot. There's a 20-foot climb up and into the slot or, what I typically do is hike through the next slot, Spooky and then go cross-country to the back-end of Peek-a-boo, which was the plan on this trip as well.

Spooky is about 3/4 of mile past Peek-a-boo, down the wash. You can typically follow the footprints. Like I said, this is a busy place. If you're claustrophobic, be prepared to turn back in Spooky Gulch. There are spots where the slot shrinks to around 6 inches wide. However, if you can make it to the back, you will be rewarded with a spectacular experience. This is a must see on any trip to the Escalante.

The mouth of Spooky Gulch

It gets tight pretty quick

There's a few good places to stop and relax

It's really tight

Not for the claustrophobic

The plan was to come out the back side of Spooky. I had done it as recently as the year prior to this trip, but on this trip, the exit on the back side was blocked by a chokestone. If you've seen the movie 127 Hours or read the book that it's based on, Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aaron Ralston, you'll know what a chokestone is. If you haven't seen or read either, think of jamming a giant rock into a crack. After some attempts to mantle and climb around the chokestone, Brandon reminded me that he knew how this movie ended and we decided to turn back.

When we exited the slot the way we came in, we climbed up the side of the slot and got on top to go cross-country to the back side of Peek-a-boo. Heading north through the sand and scrub brush, you'll find many cairns marking the route over to Peek-a-boo. Dropping in, it starts as a shallow carving in the sandstone and quickly winds it's way into a 20-30 foot deep slot canyon. There's a reason it's called Peek-a-boo. The slot makes constant s-patterns providing many hiding spots where you can't see around the corner. There are even some very interesting rock formations and natural bridges.

Dropping into Peek-a-boo

Some of the unique natural bridges

The downclimb out of the slot is a bit tricky and not recommended if you're afraid of heights and are not comfortable with climbing maneuvers. If you have multiple people, it might be worthwhile to carry some rope to lower those less comfortable downclimbing.

There's a third slot in this area, known as Brimstone, but I have yet to find it. Brandon and I spent an hour or so looking for it, but were unable to find the slot. I'll keep trying.

Back at the trailhead, we drove down another 3-4 miles to the Red Well trailhead. Again, we found another durable surface for our camp that night.

Day 3 & 4 - Coyote Gulch

In the morning, we packed up our backpacks for an overnight in Coyote Gulch. This was my first trip into this canyon. While not technically a slot canyon, it is very unique. This is at least a 7-10 mile roundtrip, but can be made as long as around 30 miles if you want to go to the end and back. We chose to stop about 4-5 miles in and camp for a night. We would then just hike down the canyon and back out.

The hike down from Red Well descends probably 100-200 vertical feet to a wash. Walking in the wash is like walking on the beach. After about 1 mile of slow moving through the wash, the landscape begins to change. You go from very sparse, desert landscape to cottonwoods. Cottonwoods generally signify a proximity to water. Sure enough within a short distance, a small trickle of spring water begins to flow from the ground. As you continue to move down the trail, the trickle becomes a creek and eventually becomes a decent flow. The depth never gets more than about 6 inches deep, but you will end up having to walk in the water.

You need to decide whether to hike in boots and just get 'em wet or hike in sandals. I have a tough time hiking in my Chacos for any distance because of blisters, but I chose to try it here. After about 2 miles, I regretted that decision and eventually switched back to my shoes.

Along the way, you will pass many tall sandstone walls, arches and alcoves. These are sometimes lined with ferns and other greenery growing out of the sandstone where water seeps out of the walls. This is a juxtaposition of stark desert landscape and lush rain forest type greenery. It is very rare to find an oasis like this.

We eventually found a great campsite on a bench above the creek and made camp for the night. Unlike most places in the desert, there are quite a few mosquitoes and biting flies around here, due to the moisture. Bring your favorite bug dope. I prefer Natrapel. I have tested it in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, and had no bug problems in one of the most biting bug intensive areas in North America.

You could probably easily spend 3 or more days here exploring many of the cliff dwellings, petroglyphs, natural bridges and arches in Coyote Gulch. We unfortunately only had 2 days. It is awe inspiring and well worth the trip. Definitely not an easy hike in, but worth the effort.

It was tough getting to this point, but the water is refreshing

The trickle starts to carve the rocks

One of the many arches and alcoves along the way

You're gonna end up walking in the water

Strange sights in the desert

One of the arches

Cooling off sitting in the creek

Chilling out

Nice little campsite for the night

What a view

Some small waterfalls

Petroglyphs

Remnants of a Native American dwelling

Hiking out the next day was tough, knowing it was the last day of a great trip. I could spend weeks and months in the canyon country. The desert has its own unique beauty to it.

Back at the car, we re-hydrated, loaded the car up and headed back down HITR towards Escalnte. We stopped at Nemo's Drive Thru for some burgers, fries and shakes. Don't expect it to be fast food. Perfection takes time and Nemo's does it right.

If you are interested in heading out to this little slice of heaven, I recommend picking up a book. It's entitled, The Non-Technical Hiking Guide to the Colorado Plateau by Michael Kelsey. There's a whole section on hikes and slots off Hole-in-the-rock road, plus many more gems in and around Southern Utah and Northern Arizona. I have so many pages dog-eared, book marked highlighted and notated in this book. It's a 400-page bucket list for the canyon hungry hiker. If you're wanting to kick it up a notch, he has a Technical Slot Canyon Guide as well.