Long weekend last weekend meant we had to travel somewhere! I couldn’t stand wasting an extra day off by staying in town 🙂 So we decided on a 15 hour road trip of course! First stop was Arches National Park, and then we headed onto my favorite: slot canyons!
Hiking a slot canyon had been on my wish list for a while, and when I found Zebra Slot Canyon in Escalante, UT I was thrilled! Only problem was when we actually started driving, rain was in the forecast. When there’s a chance of rain at all, a slot canyon is the last place you want to be. So we had to adjust our plans and delay our trip to Escalante by a day. Not only that but when we got there the rangers informed us that Zebra was full of water. If we wanted to hike it we’d have to swim through freezing cold water- which I definitely did not want to do.
Instead we hiked Peek-A-Boo slot canyon and Spooky slot canyon, also in Escalante. These canyons are off of Hole-In-The-Rock Road, a famous road in Escalante, though quite rough. While Zebra is only 7.8 miles down, we had to drive the full 26 miles to reach Peek-A-Boo and Spooky. This took a little over an hour as the road was SUPER rough and we could only average about 20 mph. Picture driving down a giant rumble strip for an hour straight, where the road is dirt and the ruts are from wind blowing the dirt around. It was rough. We were very ready to be out of the car at the end. But everyone agreed it was worth it!
There are two parking lots at the end, and we had to park in the one that was a mile from the actual trail since our Nissan Versa didn’t have high enough clearance to make it over the gigantic bumps along the road for the last mile. It was no problem though and we just parked and hiked over.
The hike itself was AWESOME!! Bring lots of water as it was warm and very sunny and dry. We hiked for about 5 hours and did Peek-A-Boo and Spooky and about half of the Fork.
The start of Peek-A-Boo does involve a scramble up a rock which was a little scary. If there hadn’t been someone at the top to haul me the end of it, I don’t think I would’ve made it. There is an option to hike around Peek-A-Boo and come through the canyon from the back which would then involve going DOWN the rock face at the beginning. I’m not sure if this would’ve been better or scarier, but some people did it that way instead. The canyon itself also required some scrambling throughout so it was good to be in a group and have people to help hoist each other up along the way.
It was pretty, a reddish color throughout. There was a narrow section where we had to squeeze a bit to make it through, but it wasn’t too long. There were other people much larger than I am who made it through so don’t be too worried. And some people even had their little kids hiking it with them as young as 3 years old (they were some tough little girls!).
At the end we took a right and followed the cairns for about 1/2 mile across over to Spooky slot canyon. There are no signs anywhere in the area, but the cairns are excellent and we didn’t worry about getting lost at all.
Getting through Spooky was a bit more challenging than Peek-A-Boo and TONS of fun! The narrows section in here is even thinner than in Peek-A-Boo and much longer. It’s not as pretty, the rocks are a darker gray color but it was so fun and we loved it all. There is one section where we had to scramble down, underneath a pile of rocks and out the other side. That was a bit stressful as we couldn’t see where we were going, the space was dark and tight and we had to have someone at the end to help us down. But honestly it was less scary to me than scrambling up at the beginning of Peek-A-Boo.
Although the trip was a ton of driving, it was DEFINITELY worth it!! It takes a bit of time hiking out to the slot canyons as well and on the way back it’s all up hill. That was tiring hiking up the rocks and through the sand but we all agreed we’d love to do it again. I would totally encourage anyone to go visit! Another bonus? It was all completely free and the rangers are super helpful with tons of information.
Most helpful tip I learned: Call the visitor center and talk to the ranger. They were really helpful giving suggestions and even directions on how to find the visitor center.
Fire Round the World 