Peek-A-Boo Gulch, Spooky Gulch and Dry Fork Narrows

 We had a fabulous day hiking to 3 slot canyons off of the Hole in the Rock Road in Grand Staircase - Escalante Nat'l Monument. We stopped by the ranger station to check on road conditions and make sure there was no risk of flash flooding. We parked in the 1st parking area, as the dirt road up to the trailhead was very deeply rutted, this added 1 mile each way to the hike. From the Dry Fork Trailhead, we hiked down into the wash and hiked up Peek-A-Boo Gulch, across and down Spooky Gulch then over to Dry Fork Narrows and came back across the upper area. Wonderful slot canyons with lots of wildflowers in between. We estimate we hike 5+ miles today, with some scrambling.

 Looking down into the wash from the trailhead. There are some cairns to mark the way down and back up. It's about 1/2 mile down to the entrance of Peek-A-Boo Gulch.

Pano at the bottom of the wash. On the left is the lower entrance to Dry Fork Narrows, near the middle the lower entrance to Peek-A-Boo Gulch and off to the right the lower entrance to Spooky Gulch.  Even further to the right (not in the picture) is Brimstone Gulch, which we did not visit.

Lower entrance to  Peek-A-Boo Gulch

This entrance is a 15 foot class 3 scramble.

 From here it is a fun 0.3 mile hike and scramble to the upper end. Near the beginning there were two potholes filled with water, we were able to get around one of them without getting wet.

 Beautiful double arch.

 Many interesting features and colors along Peek-A-Boo Gulch

 It is amazing how water carves and shapes the sandstone.

 Peek-A-Boo Gulch narrows and widens

 I love the stripes/layers of colors

 Some sections climb steeper than others

 Part way, the canyon narrows where it is impassable, here we climbed out of the canyon and

then dropped back down the other side of this tight section.

the gulch continues and twists again

 more from Peek-A-Boo Gulch

 nearing the upper end of Peek-A-Boo Gulch

 upper end of Peek-A-Boo Gulch

After exiting  Peek-A-Boo Gulch, we headed east  about 0.4 mile cross country to the upper end of Spooky Gulch. Occasionally, there were cairns marking the way.







There are a couple of different washes dropping down, this is the one that takes you down to Spooky Gulch.

 The upper end of Spooky Gulch (looks very unassuming). This canyon is about 0.3 mile long, some areas are only 10" wide.

 Spooky Gulch is different from  Peek-A-Boo Gulch

 The canyon walls have different shapes and textures

 there is a 3 foot tall arch in Spooky Gulch

Part way down there is a section in Spooky Gulch where boulders block the way

 we decided to drop down on the west side of the boulder jam

 looking back up to the boulder jam

 Spooky Gulch is narrow

 In several places we need to remove our packs to squeeze through

 some places are very dark

 Spooky Gulch begins to widen as we neared the lower entrance

 Lower entrance to Spooky Gulch as seen from outside

 View of the opening to Spooky Gulch from the wash

We then headed west along the wash for 0.5+ miles to Dry Fork Narrows.

 Lower entrance to Dry Fork Narrows. This canyon starts out wider than a slot, but narrows into a slot as you walk up. This is 1/2 mile long.

 lots of beautiful colors and layers in here as well.

 The further up the narrows, the canyon walls become shorter and more light enters the canyon

 Far end of Dry Fork Narrows


















Instead of returning back down Dry Fork Narrows, we decided to hike back cross country. Here we were able to look down into Dry Fork Narrows

Wide angle shot looking at the top of Dry Fork Narrows as we hiked back along the top.

Pano view of our hike back to the trailhead.

 Some of the wildflowers and plants we saw along our hike today:

    

   

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