Peekaboo and Spooky Slot Canyons Hike: 10/12/18

This was actually our last adventure while staying in Escalante.  My last post was so long that I decided to keep this hike separate.   This was a lot of fun!  The long, dirt road leading to these slot canyons was not far from our campground.  We did have to travel over an hour on “Hole-in-the-Rock Road” to get to the trailhead.  We experienced a little road block along the way.

That handsome, young rancher told the people in jeep ahead of us that we could ride alongside the cattle and eventually they would clear off the road.  Ok, no problem.  So glad that I was driving!!

There were hundreds of them!!  Fortunately, I didn’t clip any.  😐  This 4W drive road was 50 miles long from just outside of Escalante to Lake Powell.  Our hike today was located about 30 miles down the road. Besides passing a few ranchers with their cattle, there was limited traffic on this road.  There were some pull offs for overnight dry camping as well as more challenging dirt roads leading to more slot canyon trailheads.

As we got closer to the trailhead, there were about ten cars parked in the first parking lot, but we were able to drive another 1.2 miles to a second parking area.

 It was also pretty crowded, but we found a spot to park.

The start of the trail was wide open but soon after, it was so quiet and serene as you followed the path leading to the slots.

When we made it to Peekaboo, there was a large group making a lot of noise, and we could see two women holding ropes for others to climb up the initial 15 feet.  Since it had rained the day before, the ground was muddy and the rocks were slippery.  A little help was necessary to get up into the canyon.  Instead of doing Peekaboo first, Scott suggested we start at Spooky Slot instead, and I reluctantly agreed.   I really wanted to go back and hang with the kids in the group we “heard” at Peekaboo.  We continued towards Spooky for about 15 minutes, and then I convinced Scott to turn around. When we got back to the 15’ wall, the two women from that large group we had heard were still just inside the start of Peekaboo waiting to assist the last two members of their group that had lagged behind.  We gladly accepted their support to get up into the first canyon.  It turns out that the “kids” we heard laughing were actually a group of 17 moms from a hiking club.  They were all in their late 20’s to early 30’s. Between them, they had 56 kids!!!!

In the picture above the dark shadow to the right is the entrance into Peekaboo Slot Canyon.

Scott has been filming me on and off as we made our way they the crevices, but I didn’t take any still photos until we made it through to the end of the canyon.  Below is Scott coming out at the end.

Time for a selfie before we got  to the next slot.

Then, Scott led the way to Spooky.

After we came down the hill, we sat to rest before entering Spooky, which is to the left in the above picture.  I took a shot of the large group of 17 women that were beginning to descend down the hill.  They had all caught up to us.  Here are some shots of Spooky Slot Canyon starting with the entrance and some of the beginning twisting  corners.

When you are navigating slot canyons, it is quite possible that you will have to drop through slots  without knowing how far the drop is.   There are also no “How To” signs explaining how to navigate.  We got to a tricky point where we had to wait for two parties ahead of us to get through. A few woman turned around and headed back the other way, however our canine friends were excited to continue on!

We made it out and I would definitely do it again!  Scott made a video of the adventure, but we are having technical difficulties.  Check back in the near future.