TR - Escalante Nat. Monument [Peekaboo, Spooky, Zebra]

[tmartenst]

So I guess I wasn't paying attention but I had no idea that Bogleyfest was last weekend. I would have liked to have come out and done some technical canyons but my wife and I took a good quick trip down Hole In The Rock road instead.

We left Salt Lake City at 6:00 am on Saturday, November 7 and made it to the Peekaboo/Spooky TH at 1:00 pm. The canyons were very close to the TH so it was easy to find them. I knew where to go and what to see to tell us that we were at the canyon (Peekaboo requires a hand and toe hold climb to get in) but an older gentleman towards the bottom told us that Peekaboo was this very open canyon to the left (north) and that spooky had the hand and toe and that he couldn't get up there. We say hmmmm, but go up his canyon anyways. It turned out to be a pretty generic but decent extension of Coyote Gulch as we expected so we came back pretty shortly and did Peekaboo and Spooky proper. I feel bad for this guy who thought he came and conquered and really saw nothing close to how cool the real canyons are.

We went up Peekaboo and ran in to one other family at the top which allowed us to pass them. Crossed the open desert and headed down into Spooky which had a very large group (8+ with small children) coming out of it so it was perfect timing. We saw this same group coming out of Peekaboo on our way back and the adults were belaying the kids down the entry drop which I bet was pretty cool for them. Both Peekaboo and Spooky were pretty amazing but I thought Peekaboo had more character.

We then headed out to Devil's Garden to catch the sunset where I got a few shots of Metate Arch. We camped on the road to Harris Wash and headed out pretty early the next morning to do Zebra Canyon. This has a very established trail most of the way until it drops into the wash where you just need to follow it North to the slot. Shortly after entry we came upon water which topped out at the bellybutton. Right after the water was the most photogenic part of the canyon. Ultimately the canyon is very short. We had planned to check out Tunnel Canyon and explore the area more but my wife was feeling under the weather so headed out. We had also talked about doing Calf Creek Falls but that will wait for another time as well. On the way back we stopped briefly by the Kiva Koffeehouse (great spot) to take some pictures of the fall colors and saw about 10 wild turkeys as well. As Summit said recently, the road from Escalante to Boulder is amazing. Up there with the road from Ouray to Silverton in my book.


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Dedication:
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Capitol Reef and Henry's:
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[CarpeyBiggs]

good stuff :2thumbs:

looks like zebra has a big pool at it's entrance again? last year it was full of sand and dry.

[trackrunner]

Tom, the offer still stands. Let me know I can go any time.

[tmartenst]

Sounds good. Weather looks a little iffy this coming weekend but I am pretty open the next few weekends, so if it works, I am down.

[asdf]

Nice TR

I got skunked out of peak-a-boo last month due to a large group of elderly hikers.

[apcronnelly]

Good TR. I hope to make it down there sometime soon.

I'm diggin' the Jager shirt :rockon:

[DWayne27]

My wife and I took a trip out there and did the same thing in April this year. I cant imagine zebra with water - we had huge drifts of sand.

If it makes you feel any better, Tunnel was the most disappointing hike I have ever been on. We did it after Peek-a-boo, Spooky and Zebra. Really, it is just a long walk in an open wash to a section of Tunnel that lasts literally 30 seconds. After we got through it we kept exploring because we really thought that couldnt have been all there was to it. I guess it would be a cool feature if you are into just hiking in open desert washs, but I would not do it again, nor recommend it.