Twenty-six miles down Hole-in-the-Rock Road from the town of Escalante, deep in the heart of the vast 1.6 million acre Grand Staircase-Esclante National Monument, lie Peekaboo Gulch Slot Canyon and Spooky Gulch Slot Canyon in the Dry Fork area. These have become some of the more well-known slot canyons due to both their natural beauty as well as super easy accessibility. Both are only about a half mile from the parking lot, are relatively short hikes, and don’t require any technical rock climbing or canyoneering skills. These are usually done in a loop and easily combined with two other canyons in the area – Brimstone and the Dry Fork Narrows.

Requiring a short 15-foot scramble to enter, Peekaboo Gulch Slot Canyon is usually the first of the bunch to be tackled where you’re immediately greeted with an teardrop-shaped double arch. While Peekaboo is not particularly deep (no more than 30-feet) or long, it’s spectacularly colorful and vibrant. Interlinked potholes, extravagant swirls and fins of rock, several arches and holes, gooseneck bends, and various other openings, corners, and crevices account for the fitting name of this canyon.

*Note: Bring a small backpack. I had my normal photo/day pack and it was an absolute pain in the butt. If I were to do this again, I would simply forego the pack altogether and just bring my camera/tripod…*