Hiking & Photographing Slot Canyons near Escalante, Utah – Part 2

On day two in Escalante, my two sons and I went back to Peek-A-Boo Slot Canyon,  this time with several cargo tie down straps to use as aids, if necessary in getting into and out of the upper portion of the canyon.

The two sons with me had some experience with rock climbing.  The oldest dropped into the canyon via the steep slick rock at the upstream entrance point, leaving his backpack and camera behind on this test entrance into the canyon.  He was able to immediately climb out.  Now we knew that at least one of us could climb out unassisted and if necessary, he could assist the other two of us out.  So we all entered the canyon to begin our exploration and photography inside it.

This entrance point was in a wide, open portion of the canyon with the very narrow, short section at the beginning of the canyon on one end of the open area and the entrance to the main portion of the canyon on the opposite end.

We looked into the short beginning section first, one at a time, since it was too small for more than one person at a time to get into and out of.

While waiting my turn to enter the first section of the slot, I killed some time shooting my shadow on the sunlit side of the canyon.

The upstream beginning of the slot is shown in the photo above.  It is clear from the photo how narrow the entrance is and one can only go a short distance into this section of the slot.

We worked our way through the slot, photographing as we went along.

I do not recall meeting anyone coming from the other end of the canyon on our way down towards the main entrance; but we did begin to meet a few others as we went back up to our drop in point.

Not far from the downstream entry, there is a small arch cut into the rock, which one can see near the bottom center of the photo above.

One has to crawl through the small arch to proceed.  The downstream view of the arch is the light area in the center of the photo above.  The opening is quite small, so only small people can fit through it.  There is some room around the side of the arch, which I recall being rather tight; but it might be possible to navigate around the arch, rather than through it.  Going through the arch was definitely more fun than trying to go around it, anyway.

Just prior to the downstream entrance there are three large arches, which can be seen in the photo above.  The large rocks in the foreground form one arch and the other two can be seen behind it.

Looking over the rock at the bottom of the first arch, we saw a hole with muddy water in it.  We could not tell how deep the hole and water were, so we did not attempt to go further, electing to back track up the canyon to our entrance point.  One can see the light at the end of the slot near the top center of the photo above.

Thinking back to the previous day here, even had we or the young Swiss man gotten up the sheer entrance wall at the main, downstream entrance, it is unlikely that any of us would have been able to continue past this point.

We encountered several people on our trip back up the canyon, having to wait at the wider places in the slot to pass each other.  As we got near the upstream entrance point, we found a 50-ish year old female hiker sitting on a ledge in the canyon wall.  She had injured her knee along the way.  Those that we passed in the canyon were her family members, whom she had told to go ahead and get her on the way out.  She had only a small, almost empty, water bottle, so we first filled her bottle with water from one of our water reservoirs.  Then, thinking it was not a good idea to leave her there by herself, we offered to help her get back to the entrance point, at least.  She could put weight on her knee, but had to be careful not to let it bend sideways, as it would give way.  I let her lean on me as we slowly worked our way back to the entrance.  I was a bit concerned about supporting her, as she was not a small (not obese, but hefty) woman.

Upon arriving at the entrance, we were considering how we could get her out of the canyon and were in the process of tying the cargo straps together, when another hiker came up from the main entrance direction.  He told us he had a friend, a medic with technical climbing gear, back down the canyon, if we wanted to ask him for help.  Of course, we did.  So the hiker went back into the slot and returned with his friend.  At some point the injured woman’s family members returned, as well.

The medic examined the knee and recognized the problem.  The injured woman was a large animal veterinarian from upstate New York and she knew quite a bit about anatomy and what was wrong with her knee, with which the medic agreed.  The medic also knew exactly how to rig up the ropes to make a sling for getting her out of the canyon.  He and others then worked the rope to pull her up the steep slope of the canyon, while others went along by her to help and make sure she did not slip back.

Once on the canyon bank, my oldest son used paracord from his emergency bracelet to tie a portion of a tripod leg to the side of the injured vet’s leg to help keep the knee from bending sideways.  She was able to use the remainder of the tripod as a walking stick.  She and her family began the hike out, while we stayed behind, having a snack before we started back.  We quickly caught up with the injured woman and her party, where they had stopped to rest for a few minutes.

We hiked ahead, thinking it was going to be a slow, arduous hike for the injured woman, especially when they got to the steep, sandy slope followed by the slick rock climb back to the parking area.

On our way back along Hole In The Rock Road, we passed an SUV that was upside down just off of the roadway.  There were young boys, maybe college age, standing around and a sheriff’s deputy in his vehicle.  Fortunately, no one seemed injured.  We speculate that they were driving too fast on the very washboarded road and lost control of their vehicle, sliding off to the side and flipping.  We had noted that one had to drive slowly or the bouncing caused by the washboarding would cause a vehicle to drift.

In the late afternoon, we returned along this roadway to an area called Devil’s Garden, where we would shoot at sunset and then star trail photos after dark.

As we were scouting around the area, I heard someone call, “Hey, guys”.  I initially thought I had walked into someone’s photo composition and looking around, I spotted the large animal veterinarian.  She was wearing a knee brace and walking with crutches.  We were happy to see that she had gotten back from her hike and surprised to see her out again.  She told us she had been telling everyone about how we came along and helped her out of the slot canyon.

I know this has been a long post, but I hope that readers will glean some safety tips here, in addition to photographic tips for photographing in this area.

There is much more to see in this area (we never got to Zebra Slot or to the end of Hole In The Rock Road), so I expect I will return one day.

On our last day near Escalante, as we were leaving, we hiked several miles along a sandy creek to a waterfall.  I’m including one photo of that fall here.

This will be the last post for this year.  I wish and hope that you all have a happy holiday season.

Ken