Skip to main content

Day 39 - Escalante Exit and Slot Canyons

Our last day of Southwest Adventures with Andrew and Alan was a calm repose and warm goodbye capped with an exiting side journey with Blake to the famous Peek-a-boo and Spooky slot canyons. 

The hike out was only two hours and knowing the exact path along the river meant quick progress to the cars. Everyone seemed happy-- a mix of accomplishment, new skill and experience and thankfulness to be out of the wilderness. We exchanged goodbyes  with Joshua and Joel who set out east toward Chicago and then the rest returned to Escalante town for a final goodbye lunch of salad and pizza. We stopped at the Escalante overlook and I struck an impromptu pose than somehow captured how I felt. 


A salad and three slices of amazing pizza later, the trip was done. The group exchanged hugs and goodbyes and went separate ways in life again. Blake had one day left in Escalante and I had an open schedule until June, so the two of us fast hikers set out down Hole-in-the-rock road, an old Mormon connector dirt road toward Glen Canyon, in search of Peek-a-Boo and Spooky Gulchs, famous narrow slot canyons. An hour down the road we found the trailhead and equipped with the same guidebook Andrew and Alan tought us with, hiked north toward Peek-a-boo. 

Equipped with our fancy new navigation skills, we managed to take a left (west) when we should've gone north and got lost. But sometimes lost is good because the slot we went through was sensational-- narrow and curving and with the sun shining perfectly in it. We took some pics in the slot before exiting to an open section.



Thinking we had just been in Peek-a-boo we followed a trail along the rim as the written directions said for five or ten minutes before turning back and trying a east turn over a ridge.  Cairns and well-tread trails confused us but both trails led nowhere matching the Spooky slot description. Confering together we decided we had travelled west along the Dry Coyote and returned to the open section near the start. 

A minute north and boom-- Peek-a-boo appeared, steps up fifteen feet followed by arches into a winding almost too narrow climbing slot. This wasn't a canyon, this was an amusement ride-- climb up with feet pushing on slick sides up a curved edge and then down a slick bowl, moving our bodies in all kind of fun ways. 



Following the directions to a tee now, learning from past mistakes, we exited the slot and climbed a ridge east toward Spooky Slot. A Frenchman warned us on the way that a big boulder blocked the path and Spooky was not doable. Undeterred, we set out to see for ourselves.  Spooky was spooky-- with even narrower claustrophobic passages but with less climbing-- that is until the "jungle of chokestones delight" as described by the guidebook. Climbing on top of the chokestone the drop off was twenty feet, too far to jump and no way to climb down-- too smooth. Blocked. 

And then I saw a stone underneath the chokestone, and a path just wide enough to wiggle down between, using a well placed foot on a side rock to scoot down to a safe few feet distance to drop down. Blake went first, both of us deciding to go for it, hoping no other chokestone beyond would block out exit as the climb back up this one could be tricky. 

Both making it through the drop, we proceeded quickly down canyon, adrenaline running and hearts pumping as the knobby walls narrowed and curved. A few tricky down climbs but all doable, we celebrated as we exited the scary fun Spooky slot and returned to our car and civilization. I had rented a cabin at the outfitters and was excited to sleep in a real bed for the first time in weeks. 









Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 161 - JMT Purple Lake and Tully Hole

We got our first glimpse of smoke far across the valley as we climbed higher. Up on a ridge after a morning climb, we followed a side trail to an open viewpoint beyond the trees. Selfie:) The smoke, while visible, seemed to give the mountains a blue glow-- like a highlighter to a sketch. You could still see the edges of the mountain ridges, the story of their creation. We could hike in this. But the smoke looked worse farther south. Or it was getting worse as time rolled incessantly forward.  On day two we had ran into a northbound hiker we nicknamed Speedy Steve. Speedy Steve had hiked 18 miles a day through eight consecutive smoke-filled days, including atleast three "very bad days" when he couldn't see the surrounding mountains, the sun glowed a haunting orange and ash accumulated overnight. On the way to Purple Lake we ran into three dirty, beat up, tired north-bound hikers with a similar story. They had to spend one night in an emergency hut at Muir Pass to avoid the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 41 - Escalante Coyote Gulch

This one or two night Coyote Gulch hike was an easy test of my newly learned navigation skills.  Anxious to get started I awoke at 545 just as the sun was rising.  I followed an obvious landmark, a tall thin spire called Chimney Rock, northwest to Hurricane Wash (a drainage running into Coyote Gulch).  After a couple of hours of walking up over and around slick rock, I entered the famous Coyote Gulch.  The walls around me raised up, darkened and th water flow increased--like nature hinting at the scenic beauty ahead.  The normally crowded Coyote Gulch was fairly empty on this early Thursday morning, giving the canyon a very peaceful and quiet feeling-- fragile almost. Down steam, I ran into the famous Jacob Hamilton Arch and then thirty minutes further-- the Coyote Natural Birdge. Both were beautiful due to their see through the wall character, but both would be overshadowed in my memory by the Stevens Arch tomorrow. Pics.  By 1pm, I had hiked for six hours...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 42 - Escalante Stevens Arch

The Stevens Arch is so massive that legend says daredevil pilots would fly through it. I was excited to see it!  Having napped most of the afternoon, I awoke promptly at 545, packed up my things and hiked down to the Escalante River as the first morning light was pouring into the canyon. Hiking around more waterfalls and ledges and along the stream before anyone else was up was nice.  My written directions said to look for sandy hill to my right which led up to my only exit from the canyon-- the Crack-in-the-Wall. I ran into the confluence of the Escalante River, a point which my guidebook noted was passed my exit route, requiring a ten minute backtrack. This was fine though because I had tons of time and wanted to see the Stevens Arch.  I crossed the knee-deep Escalante River several times before the Arch came into view. Like a window in the Roman Colloseum, the Arch seemed almost engineered by man in this tall curving canyon wall. I hiked under the arch and couldn't eve...
Post a Comment
Read more