Escalante Utah Slot Canyons

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.

• Escalante Utah Slot Canyons Resort
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• Escalante Utah Slot Canyons
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TAKING A DETOUR

We are a family owned and operated business located in the town of Escalante, Utah. Along with slot canyon tours, we offer a variety of day and evening hikes, backpack trips, photo tours and catered base camp trips. Escalante Utah has some of the best Slot Canyons in the world. They are rugged, and commercialized. This was our second trip to Escalante Utah and we can nev. On most Southern Utah bucket lists, you’ll find the local favorite one-two punch of Peek-a-Boo and Spooky Slot Canyons. These magnificent hikes, located in the Dry Fork area of the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument area, can be done individually, but they make for a killer loop you can tackle in one afternoon of adventure. Escalante, Utah in southern Utah is surrounded by a rugged wilderness of vast forests, towering peaks, incredible canyons, and one-of-a-kind rock formations. As the last explored territory in the continental United States, Escalante offers visitors spectacular scenery and an unmatched sense of seclusion. These canyons have a moderate flashflood danger, check the local weather before entering these slot canyons. Trailhead Information: From Main and Center in the town of Escalante, Utah travel 5.0 miles east on Highway 12 to the signed Hole-In-The-Rock Road (N37° 43' 39', W111° 31' 54').

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.

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.

×The Egypt 3 slot is the third and best of at least five canyons of varying depth and narrowness that cut into the southeast side of the Egypt Bench, a plateau with sand dunes and other rock formations thought by early explorers to resemble the land of the pharaohs. The drainage has three distinct parts - after a dramatic 120 foot dryfall it starts with a succession of descending, inter-linked potholes through smooth red rocks, has a long and extremely narrow, intricately-textured middle section then ends with a short technical stretch with several sheer drops into pools that require rappelling and maybe swimming. Overall it is one of the finest slot canyons in the Escalante region.

Topographic Map of Egypt 3

Location

Mile 17 of the Hole-in-the-Rock road marks the turn-off for the canyon - from here a signed 10 mile track heads east and a little north, ending at the main trailhead for hikes into the middle Escalante River region; as well as the river, popular canyons nearby reachable on day trips include Fence, Neon, Choprock and lower Twentyfive Mile Wash. The first half of this side road is heavily graded but otherwise untroublesome, then it crosses Twentyfive Mile Wash - a potential problem after recent wet weather, and later passes over 2 smaller washes and the tops of two canyons by which time the surface has deteriorated. Some parts are over several meters of slickrock, and regular cars have to be driven quite carefully. Egypt 3 starts as a shallow streamway on the south side about half a mile before the road forks, at which a sign states 'Egypt 1' to the right and 'Allen Dump' to the left, and is recognisable by the large number of tyre marks and footprints at roadside.

Photographs

10 views of Egypt 3.

Escalante Utah Slot Canyons Resort

Route Description

It is a just short walk from the small parking area at the side of the approach road down a shallow gully to the sudden vertical drop off at the head of the canyon, where Egypt 3 plunges 120 feet as it enters the Navajo sandstone layer. Beneath the dryfall are a few deep pools and a short stretch of narrows; the main canyon starts a little further on, after an open area reached by walking along the rim to the left and descending a steep slope to the canyon floor. Downstream of this access point, the streambed is soon quite enclosed and begins to descend steadily - short level passages are mixed with numerous inter-connected potholes some of which require climbing and/or sliding down drops of several meters. Parts are quite dark with blackish, overhanging cliffs at either side but mostly the rocks are smooth and red, and the walls although generally angled away from vertical are consistently high and offer no escape routes.

Escalante Utah Slot Canyons Map

Escalante Utah Slot Canyons

Escalante Utah Slot Canyons Lodging

Escalante Utah Slot Canyons Real Estate

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