PEAKABOO AND ZEBRA
We
had breakfast and packed up the next morning.
We drove back towards Hole in the Rock Road, but thought we’d broken the
rental car along the way. We were
crossing a dry streambed when we hit a hole.
There was a loud bang and the car shut off. Yikes! Fortunately it
restarted and we were able to continue.
We were a little more careful in those rough spots after that.
When
we reached Hole in the Rock Road we turned south towards Lake Powell. We drove past Cat Well and on to the
trailhead for the Dry Fork of Coyote Gulch.
The final stretch of this road (less than a mile) was rough, and the
high clearance 4WD came in handy. The Dry Fork has several tributaries with
slot canyons. We planned to explore a
couple of them.
The
trailhead was fairly busy for a Monday morning.
We hiked along the rim briefly, before finding a steep route down the slickrock. We
followed a cairned route from there down to the bottom of the Dry Fork. Once in Dry Fork we turned downstream. After a couple of minutes
we reached the entrance to Peakaboo Gulch. The mouth of this slot canyon is a good 15’
above the floor of Dry Fork. The climb
up was tricky, at least for me. Christy
made it without much trouble, but I struggled to find good holds on the smooth
rock. Christy eventually gave me a hand
up the last little bit.
It
was worth the trouble. Peakaboo is a narrow, scenic slot that passes under a
several small natural bridges.
Scrambling was necessary in several additional spots, but there wasn’t
anything nearly as dramatic as the initial climb. We took our time here, as I stopped
frequently for photos. The canyon was busy
with other hikers, too, so we frequently stopped to let others pass.
Near
the upper end the canyon began to open up.
Christy took a short break while I scrambled out of the canyon bottom
and up onto the rim. I then followed the
rim back until I was directly above the most interesting section with the
natural bridges. I was lucky enough to
catch a family passing through, and managed to get a few photos.
I
rejoined Christy and we continued to the upper end of the canyon, where it
widens to a sandy wash in the open desert.
From there we had planned to make a loop back down through Spooky Canyon,
which joins the Dry Fork a bit farther downstream. However, we were concerned about getting
through it. Spooky is considered the
tightest passable slot canyon around. Peakaboo had been tight in places, but Spooky is much
narrower. Instead we followed a faint
path around to the west. It eventually
led down a broad gully and back to the Dry Fork. This is worth remembering if you want to
explore Peakaboo Gulch but aren’t comfortable with
the initial climb to the entrance.
Hiking around to the upper end of the slot canyon is easy.
We
explored up Dry Fork a short distance, as it passes through a fairly narrow
slot that is scenic. There is a more
extensive set of narrows farther downstream in Dry Fork, and another slot in
Brimstone Canyon, which is another tributary.
I wanted to spend more time here, but this was our last day in Escalante
and I also wanted to hike to Zebra Canyon.
We didn’t have time for both.
Christy was ready to wrap it up, so that made the decision easy. We hiked back to the car so we could relocate
to Zebra Canyon.
First we decided to check out the Batty Pass
Caves. I didn’t know anything about
them, except that they were labeled on the map and were nearby. We drove up a fairly decent dirt road towards
the Straight Cliffs. We were uncertain
about the exact location of the caves, and did some aimless driving
around. We were about to give up when we
spotted a spur road heading up towards some cliffs. That looked promising, so we gave it a
shot.
At
the end of the road we found a nice campsite with a great view of the Straight
Cliffs and three caves. It turns out
that the caves aren’t natural. They were
dug by two brothers who were miners and professional rock cutters. The brothers lived and worked in the
caves. The caves include two workshops
and a bedroom. On our visit, some of
their equipment and furniture were still there.
From
there we drove back up Hole in the Rock Road to the trailhead for Zebra
Canyon. I was gathering my gear in the
parking lot when a camper van pulled in next to us. A couple from Spain got out. They struggled a bit to communicate, but I
eventually understood that they had some sort of problem with their rented
van. They were concerned that they were
going to get in trouble because they had driven it down a dirt road. I read through their rental agreement and
found that there was no prohibition against driving it on dirt roads. They were greatly relieved after I explained
this. Apparently, the problem was minor,
and they didn’t think they would have any trouble getting back to town.
Christy
was ready to call it a day. She decided
to drive into town for a few hours while I hiked to Zebra Canyon. The approach was a 3 mile
hike on a good trail over rolling terrain.
There were many good views of the surrounding desert, rock formations,
and the Straight Cliffs back to the west.
It was actually somewhat cloudy for the first time on our trip. A few rain drops
even fell. This was mildly concerning
since I was planning to explore a slot canyon.
The rain didn’t amount to much there, but it looked more substantial in
the mountains to the west. I hoped that
there was a lot of rain falling up there, since there was still a major
wildfire burning in those mountains.
After
an hour I reached Harris Wash, which is broad and sandy. Hiking up the wash was tedious due to the
deep sand. Fortunately, it wasn’t far to
the entrance to Zebra Canyon. I was expecting
to have to wade through a pool to get into the canyon, but the pool had
completely dried up. A short distance
beyond the canyon narrowed dramatically.
In fact, I couldn’t squeeze through.
This was a surprise, as I hadn’t heard about it being overly tight. I thought about trying to chimney up higher
and traversing across, but I wasn’t crazy about that approach. I was contemplating my options when the
Spanish couple caught up. They figured
out the trick. To get through, you
simply have to turn your front foot forward and your rear foot backward. Then you just duck waddle through. That technique did the trick, though it was
still so tight that I tore my shorts in two or three places.
Beyond
that spot the canyon widened slightly, which made walking easier. Some scrambling was necessary, but it wasn’t
too demanding. After a short distance we found the remains of a large bird, possibly a
vulture, that had apparently botched a crash landing in the canyon. My new Spanish friend claimed a feather in
its honor and we scrambled on.
The
walls of Zebra Canyon are striped with pink and white sandstone. It is an incredibly photogenic slot canyon,
and I couldn’t resist taking lots of photos. The Spanish couple pressed on, taking on a
challenging scramble to climb up into an upper chamber. I stopped there. They returned a bit later, reporting that the
upper canyon was equally beautiful. They
told me that a second, even more difficult scramble was necessary. Beyond that, a cliff blocked further
progress.
The
Spanish couple headed out, while I lingered a bit longer to take more
photos. I followed a few minutes later,
but I wasn’t quite ready to head back.
Instead, I hiked around to the right and scrambled up a sloping rock
face. That enabled me to access the rim
of Zebra Canyon. It was neat looking
down into the slot canyon where I’d just been.
After crawling under a fence I was able to drop
down into the shallow upper canyon, upstream from the slot. Here I found a series of potholes. A couple of the potholes had moqui marbles. Moqui marbles are perfectly round stones polished smooth by
frequent floods.
I
hurried back, as I was a bit behind schedule.
Christy was waiting for me. We
drove back through Escalante and headed west and then south, bound for the
north rim of the Grand Canyon. I would
be starting a 3 day solo backpacking trip there early
the next morning. While I was there,
Christy would be car camping near Hurricane, Utah and mountain biking.
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