Just Past Egypt the Road Gets Worse!

When I worked on the farm, when I was in high school, I had to drive to a field on the prairie. A railroad spur ran next to the gravel road we would drive each time we came to work. On one occasion I drove one of the farm rigs onto the railroad grade and drove on the ties. It bounced and shook the truck so hard that we all started laughing as we jiggle jumped along the tracks.

Today Linda and I drove the Hole In The Rock Road, out to hike two slot canyons called Spooky and Peek-a-boo. I had mentioned before the road out that way was rough enough that we turned back with the camper and ended up a Calf Creek. To get out to these slot hikes, you had to drive 24 miles over very rough bumps. The last eight miles, beginning just after the road to Egypt, was like driving on those railroad ties. It brought back memories, but only for a bit because the bumps got real tiresome real soon!

We parked at the trail head for the hikes and tied on our wet boots. They hadn’t had a chance to dry completely from yesterday’s river crossings. It was no problem because it looked like we wouldn’t be crossing any water today.

The hike into the slots was about ¾ of a mile down into the dry fork of Coyote Gulch. The first on we entered was Peek-a-boo. To get into this slot you had to climb up a bit of a face. It had hand and foot holds but it was quite exposed. Linda paused at the bottom and looked up and said “Let’s get up there and git er done!” We launched into our climb with out hesitation.

Once up into the slot, it was amazing. I can’t explain how cool it was. The slot was anywhere from four feet wide to just wide enough to slip along. The walls were fifty to sixty feet high and it was like climbing around in a rock jungle gym. We scrambled up to the end of the slot and back down again. The exit took some butt sliding and white knuckling to get back down but we both made it. I was very proud of Linda the entire way.

About a half mile down the gulch, we hung a left and slogged up over a huge sand pile. Directly before us was the slot entrance to Spooky. We walked in and with in fifty yards the slot had narrowed down to about two feet. Spooky doesn’t climb up and down like Peek-a-boo did. Spooky serpentines along getting deeper and narrower as you shimmy along the sandstone faces. Before the slot got tight we met four folks coming down the other way. Three had made it to the end of the narrows, one was too big in the chest and he said he had to stop. That didn’t look good for me because we were about the same size.

Linda led on and we slithered along. In one spot it was so tight I popped three buttons off my shirt. I backed up and picked the buttons up, placing them in my shorts pockets. When I hit the spot that I believe the fellow was stopped, I got down on my knees and crawled about eight feet to where Linda was standing. This technique worked twice during the squeeze, and we were able to make it all the way to the exit boulders. Once again Linda was a champ. On this slot she led the way all the time and never hesitated while moving forward. Now I am not saying she was not scared, we both were a bit nervous about this slot, it was thin and claustrophobic.

When we got to the end we turned around and worked our way back out. We were so glad we drove the road to get out to these slots. We hiked back to the original trail that descends into the river bed. We hiked up river a bit and looked at the coll cut walls of the upper canyon and then returned for the hike up and out. I highly recommend this adventure.

We returned to Calf Creek and in the parking lot sat Tom and Sarah. They had done the Lower Calf Creek hike and were sitting having a beer. I guess we just missed them this morning. It's too bad it would have been fun to do the slots together. They visited our new camper and then were off to Escalante. They planned to do the slots hike the next day, we plan to hit the road home.

On Thursday we managed to get out of camp early and drove to Pocatello Idaho where we stayed in a KOA. We watched the movie"Into the Wild" and the went to bed. The next morning we got up and drove the rest of the way home arriving about 2 PM. We hated to be home to the snow and rain. Our weather was cool but sunny, the weather at home was wet, cold and snowy. We'll be heading back down next year. There are so many hikes we want to do.