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One of our favorite adventures of all time. This one is quite out of the way, but the effort is rewarded with the COOLEST hike in one of the more remote areas of the country.

TAKING A DETOUR

Grand Staircase Escalante Slot Canyons Map

• The 1.7 million acres of the Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument, together with the nearby Paria Canyon and Death Hollow wildernesses and Capitol Reef National Park, contain some of the best canyon hiking to be found in the Southwest US.
• Zebra Slot canyon was a very strenuous hike but well worth it. Hiking in the views are similar to surrounding area, pretty but not fascinating. Once in the slot it changes dramatically and picture worthy. Road to slot canyon is gravel and washboard.
• According to Tripadvisor travelers, these are the best ways to experience Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument: Hiking in Kanab: Walk and Photograph the incredible Wire Pass Slot Canyon! (From $204.11) Hiking in Kanab: Walk and photograph scenic Yellow Rock in the Grand Staircase (From $199.00) 15-Day Southwest Grand Circle Tour (From.

Escalante Slot Canyon Hikes

After we left Valley of Fire State Park just outside of Las Vegas, we drove for a full day in order to get to Escalante. Since we only had a few days to explore, we wanted to be sure we had plenty of time in Escalante. We ended up driving through Zion National Park and past Bryce Canyon National Park, but not stopping in either place. Don’t worry, we’ve been to both places before and will go again! This time it was about getting to Escalante and having our next adventure.

Slot canyon tributary of the Escalante River, near the lower end of Death Hollow, accessible from Hwy 12; in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah - known as as Micro Death Hollow.

GETTING THERE:

HOLE IN THE ROCK ROAD

Arriving in Escalante (the nearest town), we drove 26 miles down one of the most washboarded roads we’ve ever been on. It didn’t help that our shocks were in severe need of replacing (we replaced them here), so it was a bumpy ride. Pyros probably thought the van was shaking apart for 26 miles, but it was well worth it.

Tip: pressuring down your tires helps tremendously on rough roads like this. We aired down to 25psi. There is a tire shop in town that let us air back up. If they are closed or busy, the gas station out front has a coin op air compressor.

Aside from the long drive over rough road, Hole in the Rock Road is home to some amazing landscapes, filled with slot canyons and hikes galore. It cuts through part of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. There is some fantastic free camping right at the beginning of the road, too, which makes for a great base camp while you explore the area. Here’s where you can find that camping.

Hole in the Rock from Escalante Utah to Peek-a-boo Gulch Parking Area.

IS HOLE IN THE ROCK A 4X4 ROAD?

Eventually, yes… but the trailhead you are headed to isn’t.

BUT!!…

The road in is INCREDIBLY rough. It’s a VERY washboarded road. If you are looking for a nice, leisurely drive, this isn’t it. There’s no hazard, really, of getting stuck or anything, but it’s just simply rough.

AND…

The one mile stretch of road from the Peek-a-boo Gulch Parking Area to the Dry Fork Trailhead where the actual hiking trail starts is borderline 4×4 required.

Our Recommendation: Park at the Peek-a-boo gulch parking area and walk up the road to the Dry Fork Trailhead unless you are driving at LEAST:

• 4×4 Truck (stock height is likely fine)
• 2 wheel drive Truck (if it’s got a mild lift with, perhaps at least 31″ tires

High Top 4×4 Sprinter/Transit/Promaster? Probably park and walk. The trail is SUPER off-camber and the roll-over hazard isn’t particularly high, but will be unsettling for someone un-experienced-untrained with off road travel. Also, there is a pretty sizeable ledge that will give most vans issue when coming down in regards to departure angle.

HIKING PEEK-A-BOO & SPOOKY GULCH SLOT CANYONS

Hiking Peek-a-Boo and Spooky slot canyons is basically a loop between the two canyons. You come to Peek-a-Boo first, hike up that canyon, and then take a short trail that connects to the top of Spooky to hike down that canyon. Once you reach the bottom of Spooky, a trail then takes you back up to the entrance.

However, if you want to add a bit to your adventure, you can simply turn around and reverse the trail when you get to the bottom of Spooky. With plenty of daylight left, we opted to do this. We certainly weren’t ready to call it quits yet!

GPS BASED TRAIL MAPS: VIEW ON GAIA – VIEW ON ALLTRAILS

PEEK-A-BOOK OR SPOOKY FIRST?

Coming the reverse way (going up Spooky and then down Peek-a-boo) posed different challenges. There is a large chalkstone in the middle of Spooky Canyon which you downclimb if you are coming down from the top. Going reverse and coming up the canyon, you must scramble up the obstacle instead. It isn’t a tough scramble, but definitely a difference in the reverse direction!

While we both enjoyed going through Peek-a-Boo and Spooky slot canyons in both directions, it was interesting that Nate prefered going up both of them, while I prefered going up Peek-a-Book and down Spooky. Either way, we had a blast and still can’t wait to do it again.

PEEK-A-BOO AND SPOOKY GULCH PICTURES

The textures of the walls are our favorite part of the canyons. There is nowhere else we’ve been where you can find these kinds of lights and shadows.

Although this canyon doesn’t require any technical rope skills, there are a few spots where some mildly exposed scrambling is necessary. The canyons DO get pretty tight, but are passable.

The light in these canyons are a photographers dream. Unlike Antelope Canyon, this canyon is free to enter with no tour-guide necessary.

As you make the short hike from one canyon to the next, keep an eye out for lizards.

EXPERIENCING SLOT CANYONS

The first time we ever hiked slot canyons were in these two canyons. I had felt an awe that pushed me forward, almost unable to take in everything for want of seeing what was around the next corner.

I remembered that feeling as I climbed the first wall into Peek-a-Boo, and the sandstone felt familiar on my hands. The grippy sandstone made it simple to scale up that first wall, and I turned to grab packs from Nate while he climbed up behind me. From there, we took our time exploring and taking in the beauty surrounding us as we made our way through both canyons.

×Most Escalante area slots are far from paved highways and require some determination to reach; one of the few exceptions is found at the south side of the river about half way between Escalante town and the UT 12 road crossing, accessed by a 1.6 mile drive along a dirt track then a one mile hike. The drainage is unnamed on topographic maps but known as Micro Death Hollow on account of its proximity to Death Hollow, which joins the Escalante from the north, a mile upstream.
The slot occupies the lower end of a U-shaped slickrock bowl, and although short (1,000 feet), the canyon is very narrow, progressing from a sandy floored ravine with pools and nicely colored rock, to a dark, enclosed, twisting passageway just one foot across in places. Dryfalls at the lower end prevent walking all the way into the much larger canyon of the Escalante River, though this can be reached by scrambling down the slickrock slopes a little way west, hence the slot is often visited as part of longer trips, either up or down the river, or to Death Hollow.

Map

Topographic map of the canyon, and of lower Death Hollow.

Location

The dirt track used to reach the slot canyon leaves UT 12 between mileposts 67 and 66, crossing flat, sandy land for 1.6 miles to a parking/camping spot on a rocky area at the rim of the ravine, from where huge white sandstone cliffs and domes are visible ahead, enclosing the Escalante River. The track is liable to be rutted, and may be impassable after wet weather. The slot is then reached by a 20 minute walk along the west rim of the ravine, in and out of a minor side drainage then along benches to a promontory above the river and the lower part of the slot, followed by a relatively easy walk down steeply-sloping ground to a sandy part of the drainage, just below the narrows. Hands are required in a just few places, to aid the descent, which is completed via a short gully down the enclosing canyon walls, generally sheer and 10 to 20 feet high.

Photographs

15 views of the canyon; gallery, slideshow.

Route Description

To the north, the canyon forms a shallow, curving slot of waterlogged, interconnected potholes, soon dropping off steeply to the river. In the other direction, a sandy channel a few feet wide extends a little way upstream, between cliffs of grey-white sandstone, as far as a pool beneath a chokestone. Above here the canyon narrows to around 2 feet across and has some pretty passages likely to contain more shallow, muddy pools, as the enclosing walls come steadily closer together. The sandstone is now darker, reddish-black in color; the passage narrows further and the curvy rocks overhang above, so the slot becomes rather gloomy, and very twisting - often it is possible to see just a few feet ahead. In many places the floor is bare rock, narrowing to a point, and easy progress is halted after a while by an upwards-slanting drop of a few feet, above which the canyon is shallower, and the slot ends not far beyond.

Similar Canyons

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