Escalante, UT

After leaving Bryce we drove to the town of Escalante, UT. It sits surrounded by Dixie National Forest to the north and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) to the south. This name might be familiar to you because it has been in the news recently.  Our dear President has rescinded a designation made by his predecessor that expanded the monument.

Anyway, it is still here and quite beautiful (if you like desert canyons etc.). After taking a day for house keeping (laundry etc.) we hired a shuttle driver to take us to the trailhead that leads to two very narrow canyons called slot canyons.

Getting to the first of the slot canyons is about a 2 1/4 mile hike through the desert that has been cut by a much wider conventional canyon.






This is the first of the slot canyons called Zebra, I guess because of the stripes or striations in the rock. At places it is just wide enough to squeeze through. I had to take off my backpack to get through.



This is the approach to the second slot canyon called Tunnel. It is pretty obvious why they call it that. The water in this canyon was much deeper and extremely cold. I got into it up to my knees and was in extreme pain due to the cold and we decided not to go further. We found out later from others who went through it that it was over the waist of a man who was about 6 feet tall.


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