Utah – Spooky Slot Canyon

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Spooky Slot Canyon is located in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. There are three slot canyons near the parking lot at Dry Fork Trailhead. The slot canyons are: Dry Fork, Peek-a-boo and Spooky.

The trail leads down from the parking lot to a cliff.
This part of the ledge is not too bad. You should have a pair of gloves for the slot canyons.
At the bottom of the first ledge is another descent.
You’ll need shoes with good traction to get down this part.
As you can see there is a lot of sand to walk through.
Eventually you’ll come out in an opening. You’ll see what looks like a cave to the left. That is Dry Fork Slot canyon. If you keep walking to the right you’ll see peek-a-boo canyon (on the left side).
This is the entrance to peek-a-boo canyon. Continue walking to get to spooky canyon.
You’ll walk quite a distance through the wash and come across this area.
Here’s the entrance to spooky slot canyon.
The canyon gets very narrow right away. If you can avoid back-packs, I would recommend it. Carrying a 35mm camera was not convenient either.
The canyon is very deep, so if you’re claustrophobic, this is not a good hike.
Eventually, it gets so narrow that it’s difficult to squeeze through.
There are a few spots where it gets a bit wider. This is great for a breather or if you have to pass someone coming the other way.
Eventually you get to a place where you have to climb as well as squeeze. Some climbing spots are tricky because they curve around.
Some spots are so narrow at the bottom that your feet will wedge into the rock.
This is the worse climb. There is a small hole in that dark area that you must duck into. Then climb behind and over the boulders to get up to the next level.
You have to walk almost sideways on the angled wall (to the right) and hold yourself up against the boulders to get past this obstacle.
A few more obstacles.
There’s an arch hidden in here.
There’s a ledge after that. It’s about 4 feet high and angled, so it’s tricky to climb up.
Then you’re out.
You can go down the wash to get back to the bottom, or cut across to peek-a-boo slot canyon.