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Day 1 – 4/28/14 - Monday
I drove to the town of Escalante. I paid for a tent site at
Canyons of Escalante RV Park for several days. I have a mini-camper on the back
of the Ford Ranger and never actually set a tent. I paid for a tent site so I
had the use of the facilities and a safe place to sleep at night.
Day 2
Spooky Gulch
I drove 6 miles to Hole-in-the-Rock Road. I drove 26 miles
down the very washboard HITR road to the Dry Fork Trailhead spur road. I turned
onto CR-252 and drove 0.8 miles and stop in amazement since this junction was
completely different from the previous year. Now there is a stick sign pointing
left for the Dry Fork Trailhead and the obvious jeep two-track trail continues
straight. It looked like a large area
had been scraped by a bulldozer to allow cars to park there. From this point on
requires a High Clearance Vehicle (HCV) in either direction. I turned left and
continued about another 0.8 miles to the end of the road. This last segment
definitely requires high clearance and had some deep tire ruts in the dirt. The
end of the road has another cleared off area for parking. It also has an official trail register in a
metal box. I arrived at 8:18 am AZ time.
The rock-piles are within site of the trailhead and a worn
dirt path can be clearly seen going north-east heading down the hill. As I
started the hike I ran into another hiker, male probably late twenties, we
started hiking down together but I warned him that I was a slow hiker and not
to wait on me. As we approached the slickrock where the rock-piles changed
direction turning north-west I stopped to survey the grade of the slope going
down while my hiking buddy continued and made short work of the narrow bench
with a steep sideways slope to it. I’m a big guy and thought maybe there was an
easier way down so instead of following the rock-piles to the left I continue
on this lower ledge to the right along the top of the Dry Fork drainage. It
didn’t take long for me to come across another set of rock-piles continuing east
along the edge of Dry Fork which probably could be described as a bench with
the streambed several hundred feet below. Although I had an atlas in my
backpack I hadn’t pulled it out yet and kept hiking along the edge of Dry Fork
looking for an easy entry. I had consulted the "Escalante River 2014 Canyon Atlas" before starting the hike. I marked my GPS waypoints along the way. I finally
came to where the rock-piles were leading down the moderately steep canyon wall
and I started going down but decided it wasn’t for me and returned back up top.
After continuing a ways I picked up the rock-pile trail again, remember most of what I’m hiking on is slickrock with dirt occasionally so there is no worn path to follow. Now I came upon a second possible entry marked by rock-piles and hiked down the side of the canyon and stopped within twenty feet of the streambed. At this point I was on mostly loose dirt with boulders here and there. The final transition was steep, maybe 20 feet but I figured I could slide down on the dirt. I wasn’t sure if I could scramble up this slippery slope of loose dirt for returning this way but I had a good idea about what it would be like returning at the very first entry near the trailhead. So I slid down the loose dirt landing in the streambed. This is when I pulled the atlas out and got my GPS coordinates and studied the map to get my bearings. After a minute, I realize I was at the butte in front of Spooky Gulch entrance.
I followed a sandy trail that went around the west side turning north-east into a clearly defined wash. I hiked north walking in the wash for several hundred feet when the slickrock canyon wall opens up into a slot canyon. It only takes walking a few hundred feet into Spooky to realize this is a top notch slot canyon. This is one of the best for character and colors. I’m frantically shooting away with the DSLR and enjoying every possible composition. There is a fairly large boulder wedged into the slot but there is no problem walking under it. There is no direct sunlight entering most of the slot canyon because the canyon walls are tall and narrow despite the sun being high in the sky. I leave Spooky at 10:21 am and had arrived at 9:52 am AZ time.
After continuing a ways I picked up the rock-pile trail again, remember most of what I’m hiking on is slickrock with dirt occasionally so there is no worn path to follow. Now I came upon a second possible entry marked by rock-piles and hiked down the side of the canyon and stopped within twenty feet of the streambed. At this point I was on mostly loose dirt with boulders here and there. The final transition was steep, maybe 20 feet but I figured I could slide down on the dirt. I wasn’t sure if I could scramble up this slippery slope of loose dirt for returning this way but I had a good idea about what it would be like returning at the very first entry near the trailhead. So I slid down the loose dirt landing in the streambed. This is when I pulled the atlas out and got my GPS coordinates and studied the map to get my bearings. After a minute, I realize I was at the butte in front of Spooky Gulch entrance.
I followed a sandy trail that went around the west side turning north-east into a clearly defined wash. I hiked north walking in the wash for several hundred feet when the slickrock canyon wall opens up into a slot canyon. It only takes walking a few hundred feet into Spooky to realize this is a top notch slot canyon. This is one of the best for character and colors. I’m frantically shooting away with the DSLR and enjoying every possible composition. There is a fairly large boulder wedged into the slot but there is no problem walking under it. There is no direct sunlight entering most of the slot canyon because the canyon walls are tall and narrow despite the sun being high in the sky. I leave Spooky at 10:21 am and had arrived at 9:52 am AZ time.
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