Zebra Slot Canyon Dogs
On most Southern Utah bucket lists, you’ll find the local favorite one-two punch of Peek-a-Boo and Spooky Slot Canyons. These magnificent hikes, located in the Dry Fork area of the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument area, can be done individually, but they make for a killer loop you can tackle in one afternoon of adventure. Once you’re in, all you have to do is walk through a scenic paradise of red and purple rock.
From the trailhead, get into Dry Fork Wash via moderate scrambling down some short cliffs and following cairns as needed. Once you’re off the cliff and into the sand dunes, you’ll hike along the creek wash until you see the mouth of Peek-a-Boo. There are hand and foot cut-outs in the rock to help you get up and into the canyon.
Once you leave Peek-a-Boo, keep hiking (longer than you think you should, most likely) until you come to a juniper tree, then follow the trail and cairns leading to the right and the entrance of Spooky Gulch. Scramble down a mellow rock face to get into the canyon. It soon tightens up, and you’ll be having a good time navigating the confines of this fun canyon. The loop generally takes about 3-4 hours depending on pace and skill level.
Zebra Slot Canyon Dogs Pictures
- Zebra slot canyon (5 miles round trip, easy to get there/moderate, some stemming required in the canyon, canyon is not dog-friendly, high to moderate traffic): This is a very short slot canyon (200 m) that require some wiggling and stemming to get through. It often contains water and quicksand.
- Zebra slot canyon is one of many hikes to be found along southern Utah’s Hole-in-the-Rock Road, where many sandstone canyons feed the west side of the Escalante River. As always when exploring slot canyons, it’s important to be mindful of local rainfall. Grand Staircase-Escalante’s summer heat is no joke, either.
Zebra Slot Canyon in Grand Staircase Escalante
Zebra Slot: SummitPost.org: Climbing, hiking, mountaineering. In drier conditions, it might take only 30 minutes to head up the slot until you reach high, sheer walls that will require rope to climb and which take you to a couple of potholes that mark the upper end of the canyon, anyway.
After hiking Antelope Canyon, I assumed I’d seen the pinnacle of slot canyons… That was until I learned about Zebra Spooky, and Peek-a-Boo slots (I wrote about Spooky and Peek-a-Boo in another post). All three are located on Hole in the Rock Road within Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. Hole in the Rock is a long, dirt road, but it’s well taken care of so you shouldn’t need 4 wheel-drive, barring inclement weather conditions.
Zebra slot is the first slot canyon you come to, not far down Hole in the Rock Road. The hike is short and relatively easy, but it’s one of the coolest hikes I’ve been on. You spend a few miles walking through formations that look a good deal like the elusive Wave formation… The hike through the actual slot canyon, however, is relatively challenging. Not because it requires endurance, but because it requires scrambling, some climbing, and long hikes through deep, icy water in very narrow (10 inches wide or less) passages. I wouldn’t recommend trying this canyon if you’re claustrophobic, afraid of scrambling, or unwilling to walk through extremely cold water. If you’re willing to risk those things, it’s 100% worth it and really, really fun. Here are my tips on getting the most out of your hike:
Zebra Slot Canyon Dogs Allowed
- You’ll encounter water immediately upon entering the canyon. Regardless of what you read or hear, expect to walk through some amount of water in this canyon. And expect this water to have ice in it, so your legs will go numb.
- The water most likely won’t go above mid-to-low thighs. It also will be deepest in the parts where the canyon is the most narrow. That’s spooky, but if you can get through that, you’re in for a big reward on the other side.
- The water never really ends (at least it didn’t for us), but there are breaks where the canyon floor is dry for awhile. Push as quickly as you can through the first bit of water to keep your legs from going numb and get to the dry part.
- After you make it through the first stretch of water, the canyon will dry out and the zebra stripes will begin. This is a good place to turn back if you aren’t comfortable climbing.
- After this, you’ll quickly encounter a 10-12 foot dry fall. You’ll probably want to climb over it to keep going. Just beware that this is a tougher climb than it appears, particularly if you end up coming back down (like we did).
- After the dry fall, you’ll encounter pockets of canyon with deep pools of water and slick, 10 foot or higher sides. To keep going, you need to climb up these sides. This could be feasible if the water was low. When we were there, it was above my head, so we didn’t attempt it. Instead, we climbed back down the dry fall, which was a lot tougher than coming up it.