Since, I do not have anything from a recent journey, I am reaching back into my mental and photographic archives for this post. I have also revised the editing of the photos contained here. The original edits were mostly very conservative. Now that I have more time and getting more comfortable with advanced photo editing, I think I am able to extract better images from some of the original raw files that I initially ignored, considering them unworthy of sharing.
In March, 2014 two of my sons and I traveled to Escalante, Utah to explore and photograph in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. We had a couple of interesting events associated with our hikes in two of the well known and popular slot canyons.
On Monday, March 24 our first destinations were Peek-A-Boo and Spooky Slot Canyons which feed into the Dry Fork of Coyote Gulch. We arrived at the parking area, after traveling down the very washboarded Hole In The Rock Road and a heavily rutted side road with signage recommending high clearance and preferably 4-wheel drive vehicles. We were in a high clearance Jeep, so no problem for us. As we were gathering our gear from the Jeep, a rather low clearance, smallish crossover type vehicle, that we had passed on Hole In The Rock Road, pulled into the lot. We were surprised that anyone in that type vehicle would travel the rutted, dirt road, especially after seeing the warning signs; but the road was not wet or muddy, at least, so a careful driver could navigate it. We met the driver, a young Swiss man, at the trail head marker and chatted with him. He told us that his rental vehicle was 4-wheel drive, but I expect it was the more typical All Wheel Drive rental vehicle.
As we all started the hike, which began on a slick rock slope, then transitioned to a steep, sandy slope down into the dry wash, we noted that the young Swiss man, who was using two hiking canes, had a physical handicap that did not allow him normal use of his legs. Consequently, we soon outpaced him.
We arrived at the entrance to Peek-A-Boo slot and, just as one of our references describe, there was a shallow pool of water in front of a sheer drop off from the slot canyon. Someone had put a few rocks across the pool, stacked a few at the base of the sheer wall and leaned a small tree trunk or maybe a large tree branch against the wall as aids for climbing the sheer wall. There were also a few shallow toe holds cut into the sheer face of the rock wall. After some consideration, we decided that with all of our gear, it would not be wise to attempt this entrance to the canyon. We knew, from our reference for this hike, that one could hike up slope in the general direction from which the canyon came and eventually find a place to drop down into the canyon from above. So we began hiking up away from the dry wash. We were not always able to stick close to the canyon, but we were able to hike back in the direction of the slot and eventually found an entrance point at the upstream start of the canyon. However, we were not sure that we would be able to climb back out at this point and we had no ropes with us. We had cargo tie down straps back in our motel room, so we decided that the safest plan was to come back the next day with a few of those straps, which we could tie together and use, if necessary.
We hiked back to the dry wash on our way to the next slot, known as Spooky. As we were passing the entrance to Peek-A-Boo, we were incredibly surprised to see that the young Swiss man, with his hiking canes, camera, tripod and day pack, had managed to ascend the sheer wall to the first level. (There were two or three levels on the wall, where one could stand). We were concerned that the young man might injury himself and we tried to talk him into coming down. He insisted that he had to go ahead, so we stayed there to make sure that he got up safely. As he tried to lift his leg to put his foot into the next foot hold, it became obvious that he was physically unable to raise his leg sufficiently to continue. He then realized that he could not go on, but he seemed afraid of getting down from his perch. We assured him that we would help him down. He passed his gear down to us, asking us to please be careful with his camera. My oldest son was quite helpful guiding his feet into the foot holds, while we were all making sure he did not fall. He was obviously concerned about his safety during his descent and expressed his gratitude to us, when he was safely back in the wash.
We suggested that he walk along with us to Spooky. He agreed, but said he would be slow and we assured him that we would stay with him.
We arrive at Spooky after about a half mile of walking in the wash. Spooky is a very narrow slot, frequently requiring one to walk sideways with arms outreached with backpack in one hand and tripod with camera in the other hand. The walls are also rough and abrasive, which wore holes in our backpacks as these were pulled through the narrow passage. I am not a big person and both my chest and back frequently scrapped against the walls. Anyone much larger than me would not be able to squeeze through this slot.
The best time for photography in the slots is when the sun is high enough for sunlight to penetrate into the dark, narrow canyon. Light reflecting off of the sandstone walls can create interesting color, highlighting the texture of the rock.
The low light within the canyon can also require larger apertures, slow shutter speeds and maybe even multiple exposures for creating HDR images.
Eventually, the slot opened up into a wide, sandy wash, which we used to walk back to the main trail. The young Swiss man took off across country in the opposite direction. He had a GPS and we never heard of anyone going missing here during our visit, so I am assuming he got back safely.
(On a subsequent trip in the hot summer, by two of my sons, they encountered a woman and her children in the parking lot, asking them to keep an eye out for her husband. They had been hiking and got disoriented. The husband hiked up to a higher elevation to try to see the way out and disappeared. He eventually perished, before he could be found. The environment here is deadly for those not sufficiently prepared).
One does not want to be in one of these slots, when there is any rain in the area. Flash floods through these canyons will be deadly for anyone in these canyons during one.
These canyons are beautiful and a joy to hike through, just make sure to use care in getting here. Carry plenty of water, snacks, wear proper clothing and either know the area well or carry a GPS and/or map and compass.
The rough texture of the canyon walls is clearly visible in the above photo.
And yet, some portions of the walls are rather smooth as shown in the above photo.
The sandstone looks purplish in low light and reddish in brighter light.
The narrowness of most of the route is obvious in the above photo, which is just a slightly different angle of the same section as in the previous photo.
It is amazing how flowing water over many years has carved and sculpted the rock walls of these amazingly beautiful canyons.
Part II of this blog will relate yet another significant experience involving a hiker in distress in our subsequent trip to Peek-A-Boo Slot on the following day. So stay tuned for more in a week or so.
Ken