Grand Staircase: Escalante -
Day 1 (click once on any photo to display full image) |
It was 20 years ago since our
last trip to Arizona and Utah so we headed back to see some new places that we
hadn't been to before, like Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and revisit some old places where we
didn't get to see everything the first time around, like the north rim of Grand
Canyon and Zion National Park. Unfortunately my Dad was not able to join us on
this trip because he was still recovering from his bout with plantar fasciitis,
although in hindsight I don't think he would have enjoyed many of the hikes
anyway based on their effort versus reward trade-off, so from his perspective
he didn't miss anything except our wonderful company and the good eats!
We began our trip in Grand
Staircase-Escalante,
Spooky and Peek-a-boo Gulch
In the morning on the first day
we hiked through two short slot canyons aptly named Spooky and Peek-a-boo
Gulch. Based on what we had read, this was supposed to be a short and simple
circuitous hike up through one canyon and then down the other, but our
experience wasn't short or simple. The difficulties began with a giant pool of
muck (deep, thick, wet mud) at the base of the first canyon that we were
supposed to go up through. After watching several people ending up knee deep in
the muck as they attempted to cross, we decided to do the hike in the reverse
direction instead. So we went up the second canyon, then down the first canyon,
and when we got to the muck pools (there were actually several more inside the
base of the first canyon) we turned around, went back up that canyon, then
found a way down along the outside of the canyon. We chose to find our way
along the outside of the canyon rather than going back down through the other
canyon because traversing these canyons was not simple. The canyons were a lot
narrower than we had expected. They were actually impassable with our backpacks
on so we had to take them off in order to squeeze between the walls of the
canyon, and it was very difficult to maneuver thru the canyon with a heavy
backpack in your hands rather than on your back. Also, there were several
places in the canyon that involved climbing up over big rocks and ledges where
it was difficult to find hand and foot holds. The backpacks ended up taking a
real beating too after getting scrapped against the canyon walls (it was
actually more like crawling thru a cave rather than hiking thru a canyon) and
in hindsight it would have been a much more enjoyable hike without the packs.
Oh well, as the old saying goes, live and learn!
Entering Spooky Gulch and
traversing its narrow passages. You know it's narrow when even "Skinny
Minnie" was barely able to squeak through!
At the base of Peek-a-boo
Gulch. It's name is now obvious from the first photo.
If you look closely in the second photo, you can see one of the many muck
puddles just below Mo’s feet.
Making our way back up
Peek-a-boo to avoid the muck.
The cool shade at the end of our afternoon hike to this waterfall (named for its use as a natural pen for calves back in the late 1800s and early 1900s) was a welcome relief from the canyon heat.