I'd been really been looking forward to this hike and was not disappointed. After driving to the trailhead (good gravel a good part of the way, a couple rough spots that required a good bit of care in the family minivan), we started at the trailhead in the late morning (about 10 am). It was pretty hot, but there is quite a bit of shade available with the canyon walls and a tree here and there. The trail down into the main gulch (Dry Fork Coyote) is a fairly easy and short sand and slickrock trail. To the left is a narrows in the main gulch, which was worth the short walk up into it. Pretty much straight across the main gulch from where the trail enters is the entrance to Peek-a-Boo which we saved for later. Down the gulch about a half mile is the side canyon of Spooky Gulch. That is where we headed first.
On the way to Spooky
A lone tree in the bottom of Dry Fork Coyote Gulch
The mouth of Spooky is really cool looking, just a narrow crack in the sandstone wall (climb up the dune to the left of the mouth for the view in the picture). The slot quickly narrows as you enter, and within a short distance you come to the narrowest point we encountered. I couldn't go through standing up, but on my knees I could crawl through as it was a little wider near the bottom. The slot continues, with lots of twists and turns and beautiful stratified sandstone walls. The girls just walked through, but through much of the slot I was scraping my front and back on the walls. We eventually came to a dry fall, and rather than scramble up, we turned around and headed for Peekaboo.
Entrance to Spooky Gulch
Just inside the mouth of Spooky
The narrowest part of Spooky
Way cool walls!
A wide part in Spooky
It winds and winds like this
The explorers near the mouth of Spooky
Back up canyon, we returned to the mouth of Peekaboo. It was a bit tricky to get into, with about a 15 foot dry fall to scramble up to the first dry pool. There are some footholds carved in the rock, and with the skills we learned from the guide on Monday, Sarah, Jess, and I were able to make it up into the canyon. I just wanted to explore the lower part, which is where there are unique arches almost like interlocking rings, above a series of round pools (mostly dry). I was able to climb around the one mudhole, but the girls had to jump in. We went up through a few more dry pools to get in the midst of the arches. More incredible scenery carved in the sandstone! The climb back down the dry fall at the mouth appeared more difficult than the climb up, so I put a rope around the girls as a safety as they climbed down, but they didn't need it.
Dry fall at the mouth of Peekaboo
Sarah in the mud hole
This took a while to wash off back at the hotel
The namesake arches of Peekaboo Gulch
Jess and Sarah in Peekaboo
Sarah downclimbing from pool to pool
Spooky and Peekaboo aren't the only attraction, as there are sections of narrows in the main gulch upstream of Peekaboo and just downstream of the trail turnoff to Spooky. While not as narrow, they are beautiful in their own right with sinuous sandstone walls above the sandy canyon bottom, well worth a little more walking. I think this is a must see if you are in the area and can make it to the trail head.
Narrows of Dry Fork Coyote Gulch upstream from Peekaboo
Narrows downstream of the trail to Spooky
Narrows of Dry Fork Coyote
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