Photo Friday: Return to Peekaboo Gulch

Welcome back for another episode of "Rebecca Rocks Out." After 2 years, I returned to Dry Fork Coyote Wash and to Peekaboo Gulch, where I broke my foot in April 2023. No injuries this time! Well, except to my camera, which finally succumbed to all the desert sand and grit halfway through the hike. I'm glad that cell phones these days have great cameras, so the trip wasn't a photographic loss.

We went on from Peekaboo to Spooky Gulch, an even narrower slot canyon, though not in my opinion as pretty a one.

 

The hike starts with a short walk to the edge of the canyon, then a long walk along the shelf atop the sandstone.

Starting the hike.

Two years ago we climbed into Peekaboo from the bottom of the wash, a climb that I don't like and can't do without help. This time we hiked up alongside the slot and dropped in from the top. A bit of a search located the place we climbed out after I broke my foot. It was a less obvious route than I remembered!

From there we headed downstream into the heart of the slot canyon.

Entering the cool carved stuff.

 

This spot required a deep gulp and a spotter, even though it's really not a big deal--it's where I somehow broke my foot last time, though, so I was taking no chances.

Soon the walls reach 50' or more.

 

The power of water.

 

 

Zeke negotiating one of the fun bits.

 The slot's name comes from this pair of arches, which form a peep-hole to the sky above.

 

Peek-a-boo!

From there we turned around and climbed back out past where we entered (and left our packs). 

Yes, I love this stuff!

Across a half mile of hillsides to Spooky Gulch, which starts so innocently, but is the reason for a warning sign at the parking area suggesting that if you can't fit between two posts you can't fit through the canyon. Unlike most such signs, this one is if anything an understatement--I think the canyon gets narrower than the gap they provide, and unlike with two posts you can't twist through it. Not for the claustrophobic! 

The innocent beginning.

Note the pack in my hand. No room here to carry it on the back!

  

One of the many beautiful bits. I may not find Spooky as pretty as Peekaboo, but it's not ugly.

 

Somewhere in here we encountered a puzzle we couldn't make out. I knew from past trips that there was a route that would get us down about an 8' drop through the rocks, but a) on previous trips there had been ropes or ladders, and b) I couldn't find the right spot to start down. Lucky for us, someone came along who knew the route and talked us through it. Somehow I failed to take pictures.

Easy to go around, but I think all three of us went under :D

The guys in one of the suck-in-your-gut passages.

There are signs all over, and even a box in the wash with paper urging people to write there, not on the rocks. Some people just have to be jerks. DON'T BE LIKE JULIAN! Julian is an idiot. Yes, even scratching with one rock on another is vandalism. To our sorrow, there was a LOT of this in Spooky, much of it looking like someone simply failed to supervise their kids.

 Despite the vandals, we enjoyed our "hike". It's a good incentive not to overeat!

In case anyone wondered, yes, Petey Possum is still riding along! He hid in the pack on the spooky bits but was willing to come out when we stopped for lunch outside the slot.

That pretty much wraps up day 2 of our Grand Staircase-Escalante adventure! I'll be back with more next week, and watch my Instagram for more-or-less daily photos, many of them not included here.

High winds aloft!

©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2025   
As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated.

Don't miss a post--Follow us!