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| Hiking | 17.25 Miles |
1,400 AEG |
| | Hiking | 17.25 Miles | 6 Hrs 30 Mns | | 3.14 mph |
| 1,400 ft AEG | 1 Hour Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Full day in Escalante area - originally had Coyote Gulch pegged, but figured it would be a far less than idea time of year to do a water hike, so I decided to hit the Dry Fork slots and start working my way back towards town. Started at the upper trailhead, jogged down to Dry Fork. The main Dry Fork slot was OK-ish. Originally planned on starting up Peek-a-boo, but after a couple of annoyingly difficult scrambles, I decided it would be better done top-to-bottom, so I decided to start heading down towards Brimstone.
There was another short slot in Dry Fork past the turnoff to Spooky, which I thought looked more impressive than the main Dry Fork narrows. Shortly before the turn up Brimstone Gulch, I encountered an older Japanese guy just wandering around, I told him I was heading to Brimstone and he said he wanted to come along. OK, this would probably slow me down a bit, but it's fine. After what seemed like a mile, got to the Brimstone slot, which was actually quite tall and narrow, and IMO the prettiest of the slots in the Dry Fork area. Eventually it was just a few inches wall-to-wall, preventing further travel (and it was getting hard to see).
So, turned around and started heading back up to Spooky, which was next. Spooky also got super narrow, and I had to take off my hydration pack and go sideways for some stretches. This one was just really fun to go through.
Then, over to Peek-a-boo, which was pretty short in comparison, and the most interesting part was the lower stretch that I had already seen. Somewhere in here I dropped the Japanese dude, who I think hung back with the couple I had seen in the parking lot. Then hiked back out, for a total of 10 miles or so, which was more than anticipated.
Headed back up the road and stopped at Devil's Garden, which I had to myself, for a quick beverage and walkabout.
Then found the TH for Zebra and Tunnel, which is obvious but unmarked. After the first mile or so, Halfway Hollow started getting pretty scenic. Then on the way up the Zebra wash, I picked up my second hanger-on of the day. Got to a point in Zebra where I'd have to get a little creative to make further progress, so turned around (I think one could go 50-100 feet farther though). Headed up the crossover to Tunnel, and hanger-on was still following. He didn't seem to have any clue where he was going, so I had to keep him in sight. Really liked the traverse over the slickrock and down into the canyon. The slot itself is very short, but unique. And there was knee-deep frigid water, fun.
On the way back, made sure the hanger-on made it as far as Halfway Hollow, and figured my responsibility ended at that point, so was able to jog a little of the way back up.
Overall, really fun day, and a good introduction to the area, which I definitely now have near the top of my list of places to return to soon. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Based on his response it meant we had to accomplish our goal! Although we kept his warning about how a drizzle had caused issues for a boyscout group in Brimstone not too many year ago.
