Today was a strenuous, but fun day. We set out for the middle of the Utah desert to check out a couple slot canyons that my fiancé found while researching the trip (I had to do it just once…). This hike was a lot different than the ones we have been doing. For starters, we had to drive an hour through unpaved road just to get to the trailhead. And once we got there, we were literally the only 2 people there. The actual trail to the slot canyons is marked at the beginning and at the end, but there are no trail markers in between. The only way for us to follow the trail was to look for footprints in the desert sand. Furthermore, we had no map and the canyons themselves are not marked. Ricky had 2 canyons in particular that he wanted to hike, but here was no way for us to know which canyon was which. So we picked one… it was a pretty cool hike. About 45 minutes or so through a narrow, deep canyon. Ricky had read that when we got through the first canyon, we should follow a dried up stream to the opening of the next canyon. So we followed a dried up stream. We followed a couple of them, actually, but neither of them lead us to another canyon. So we hiked back the same way we came, this time climbing on top of the rim. When we finally made it back to the other side, we decided to try out a different canyon opening. This one you had to hop up into. And once you got into it, there were all this pool of water that you had to scramble across, which was difficult, but we did it. Once we got passed the pools of water, it was like we were in a fun house. Super narrow canyon with rock tunnels and walls that you had to make your way around. It was really fun to climb around in there, but after that we were pretty beat and we didn’t bring any water with us because we thought the slots were gonna be too narrow to carry a pack. We decided to head back to the van after that. On our way back, we ran into 2 college kids all geared up to camp out for the night. Good luck with 80% chance of snow! But they had 2 dogs and a map, so we chatted with them for a while. We figured out that the first canyon we hiked was just random canyon, not either of the ones we wanted to hike. Furthermore, it took us in the complete opposite direction of the other two canyons, out in the middle of nowhere, which explains why we were completely lost. Oh well. We got to do Peek-a-boo, but unfortunately we missed out on Spooky trail, which is the more narrow and cooler canyon. Ya win some ya lose some, right? There will be more slots to come.
So we drove an hour back down the tortuous, obnoxious unpaved road. I sat in the back the whole time trying to keep all the cabinets closed! We continued on route 12, which is one of the most scenic drives in the country. Do you know that Utah is pretty much one giant rock?? We basically saw every type of red rock geology possible. Particularly beautiful was Capital Reef National Park. Gorgeous red rock scenery here. Now, we’re relaxing in a hotel, getting some laundry done, and getting a long overdue shower. Life is good.
-Jillian