Es-ca-lahnt. Es-ca-læ-ni. Es-ca-lahn-teh. We've asked a few folks in the area, and they say it's pronounced however you want to pronounce it: "you say po-tay-toe, I say po-tah-toe." So we switch it up, sometimes even mid-conversation.
We stayed a few nights in Escalante in order to explore some of the sights along Hole-in-the-Rock Road. The take-away: no hike was like any other hike. The variety in the landscape of Grand Staircase - Escalante is mind blowing, although you can't really tell without walking down into it.
Day 4: Bighorn and Zebra Canyons
According to assorted reviews on AllTrails.com, Bighorn Canyon is relatively wide for a slot canyon and doesn't require much clambering, which sounded like a perfect introduction for us novices. The out-and-back hike included two slots at the far end.
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| The cairns were helpful once we found the trail. |
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| Heading into the slot to the west... |
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| Heading into the slot to the east... |
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| We turned around when the slot opened up to some great views... |
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| ...but the slot continues northward for a few more miles. |
Well that was a fine thrill. What next?
L's husband P had recommended Zebra Slot Canyon a little further down Hole-in-the-Rock Road. He told us "there will likely be water at the very beginning, but it will only be waist or chest deep. Probably cold in February, but it'll be OK--just go through it because the slot is great." My personal Rules of Acrophobia include challenges with bodies of water in which I can't see the bottom (because, you know, there could be a 1,000 foot drop below me, which would count as a height even if I were floating on top of it), so I had crossed Zebra off our list--but a recent review on AllTrails said there was currently NO WATER at the entrance. So after we finished Bighorn Canyon Trail, we thought we'd just stop by the Zebra Slot trailhead to check out the water situation before heading to another trail down the road--not understanding yet that you have to hike in a few miles before you reach the actual slots; and of course, after we had hiked in a few miles--which would have been spectacularly worthwhile even without the promise of a slot at the end--we were determined to go all the way to the slot, where there was still NO WATER at the entrance! In we went.
There were two hikers ahead of us, both of whom had taken a canyoneering class. All four of us soon dumped our hiking poles and backpacks as the slot narrowed. S went through first, wedging himself up the sides of the walls to get over a particularly narrow spot. With some maneuvering, Hiker A followed; then Hiker B wedged themselves so far up the wall that they were afraid to come down. Meanwhile, I lacked either the upper body strength or the coordination or the technique to wedge myself up the wall at all, so I bailed, squeezed my way back to a slightly wider spot, and figured out how to wedge myself up that spot instead. S was the only one of the four of us to figure out how to make it through the end.
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| En route to Zebra Slot |
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| Millions of years of geological history |
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| Look P, no water! |
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| Too tight for me |
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I took the selfie above while hanging out above the slot floor.
It was actually quite a comfortable place to hang out... |
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| Courtesy of S |
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| Courtesy of S |
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| Courtesy of Hiker A, before they also bailed |
The canyon walls were adorned with spherical iron concretions filled with sandstone, called
moqui balls. We assume the ones that had fallen out had been polished smooth by water flowing through the slot; the ones still in the walls are coarser.
Day 5: Dry Fork Narrows and Peek-a-Boo Canyon
There's a
popular trail down Hole-in-the-Rock Road that includes two slot canyons: Peek-a-Boo and Spooky. I had read enough about them to know I wouldn't do well in Spooky, and I was pretty sure the 15-foot vertical climb to get into Peek-a-Boo was also beyond my acrophobic abilities. But there's another slot canyon,
Dry Fork Narrows, described on one website as "
not necessarily a major attraction unto itself" but "deserv[ing] a visit before--or after--the strenuous journey through Peek-a-Boo and Spooky." Dry Fork Narrows sounded like a perfect major attraction to us.
It was fabulous.
The Dry Fork Narrows slot spits you out a few hundred meters away from the entrance to Peek-a-Boo, so we walked over just to take a look. Even with the footholds that had been carved into the rock, I had no desire to try it, so S climbed up alone, went to the end and back, and took a bunch of photos en route. (This was possible only because we were there off-season. Some 35,000 people visit these slots each year, and when the canyons are crowded, traffic is one-way only.)
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| I waited down below... |
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| ...while Carly made it about halfway up the wall. (She had help.) |
The Dry Fork Narrows trail was a loop: we entered through a wash and exited along a rim. My camera couldn't capture the height we scrambled up to reach the rim; I'm pleased that I made it up, avoided a panic attack, and lived to type the tale. The adrenaline jolt had me energized and yammering for the rest of the day. I was also pleased to observe that I wasn't the only acrophobe who had walked the trail, as evidenced by
desire paths paralleling the designated trail but a few feet further from the rim. (I'm a stickler for taking nothing but photos, leaving nothing but footprints, and staying on designated trails in the wilderness, so I smugly skipped the desire paths.)
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| Pretty sure the entrance to Peek-a-Boo is that wee vertical opening to the right. |
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You can't tell from this photo how far down the drop is to the right
--but it's far down. |
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| A Carly-sized natural arch! |
On the way back to Escalante, we stopped at
Devils Garden to admire the hoodoos and arches.
Sun in our eyes, warm rock under our backs, hardly a sound to hear.
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