Photo: The Dye Clan / CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Two famously tight slots sit side by side in the Dry Fork of Coyote Gulch, and the usual loop climbs up one and squeezes down the other. Peek-a-boo starts with a 12 foot dryfall gained on moki steps chipped into the sandstone, then opens into stacked arches and potholes. Spooky pinches to roughly 10 inches, tight enough that most people turn sideways and carry the pack by hand. BLM and Kane County search and rescue installed sizing posts at the trailheads so you can learn whether you fit before you commit. No permit or fee for day hiking. The trailhead sits 26 miles down Hole-in-the-Rock Road, graded dirt that passenger cars usually handle when dry and clay that traps vehicles when wet; low clearance drivers should park at the upper lot and walk the last mile. Both slots flood and the open approach bakes in summer, so check the forecast, carry extra water, and turn back if storms sit upstream.
Canyons & deserts
Canyons & deserts
Canyons & desertsCurated guides that feature Peek-a-boo and Spooky Gulch.
15 placesThe sandstone country of the Colorado Plateau and its edges: corridors sanded smooth by flood water, arches by the thousand, hoodoo amphitheaters and thousand-foot buttes. Fifteen places, honest about which ones need a permit, a Navajo guide, or a high-clearance truck, and which you can simply walk into.
9 placesNowhere else packs this much sandstone into one state. The Mighty 5 national parks, a twelve-mile slot canyon you walk single file, the first Dark Sky Park ever certified, and a river hike between thousand-foot walls. Nine places, from drive-up overlooks to corridors ten inches wide.