Zebra Slot Canyon

A few years ago, i was browsing Google Earth, looking at remote areas in the desert that were well away from roads and trails, just to see what was there. I came across some some interesting sand dunes in the Escalante area that i had never heard of. Open fields of dunes are somewhat rare in the American Southwest, and these appeared large enough from space that i was intrigued. The problem was they were miles away from the nearest road, and getting to them would be a cross country trek across very hot terrain.

Since my Blackstone Bay experience i've become more interested in cross country hiking. Last year, revisiting the sand dunes in Earth, a few photos had been added to the area, revealing that the sand dunes were indeed large and interesting. Additionally i found the location of two noteworthy slot canyons very close by. I had heard rumors of, and occasionally seen a photo of Zebra and Tunnel slot canyons, but i never knew where they were. It turns out they are both within a mile of each other and some distance to the south of the big dunes.

 

The normal way to get to Zebra Slot is to hike in from the Hole in the Wall Road, over 3 miles away, and return via the same route. I don't like backtracking, and if i wanted to see Tunnel Slot and the Dunes that would add on miles of backtracking. I thought it would be fun to design a loop hike using sattelite imagery.  I found a less used sand road to the east that would make a great starting point for the loop, incorporating all three destinations and offering a look at bare rock wildlands in between. The total hike would be between 10 and 12 miles, depending on how far along the dunes i wanted to go.

The route that i actually ended up hiking. The black line is one mile long.

A closer view of the "wildlands" that i traversed on the way from the Start to the Dunes and Tunnel.  The beige patches are old sand dunes that are generally stabilized with plants. I tried to stay in the white bare rock areas, which was sometimes not easy because the horizon was often obscured in the sand. The large green plants are Juniper trees. The smaller speckles are mostly Sagebrush.  

When i first got to the rocks i followed a long drainage with larger and larger waterholes. Some were dry, some were wet.

Starting at one of the ends of the Spencer Flats road i made the three mile walk to Tunnel Slot.  I'm still bad about bringing maps with me, so i was using my iphone as a gps from time to time. I highly recommend NOT doing that, as the iphone (at least the iphone3) is a terrible navigational aid. You have to be moving for it pinpoint your position and show your direction. As soon as you stop moving it looses your direction. So if you are walking off trail, through endless small obstacles, you can only glance at the screen for a second or two to get your bearings. It also uses immense amounts of battery power.

It was a cold, windy morning (it had been 25F that night) but I made it to Tunnel Slot without any major problems. In fact, i was hugely surprised that i navigated so accurately across the terrain. I came right up to the back of the Tunnel, which was nice because the front of the Tunnel was flooded, so i didn't have to feel disappointment in not knowing where the tunnel went.

Acres and acres of open bare rock. I love it. In the foreground are what they call Moki Marbles. They are iron rich mineral deposits, some of them perfect spheres. In some areas there were so many of them that you literally had to watch your step.

The beginning of the Tunnel Slot wash is fairly unappealing and somewhat choked with dead willow bushes. If i hadn't just walked back along the top i would never assume this led anywhere of interest.

The canyon opens up briefly and then squeezes shut abruptly. You can see the tomb like entrance to the tunnel up ahead.

The tunnel looked about 60 feet long and was full of water. The water at the entrance looked more than 3 feet deep, and was hard to avoid unless you ran along the wall bouncing back and forth Prince of Persia style.

From the front of Tunnel Slot to the front of Zebra Slot is 1.5 miles. This was the only part of the hike where there was any semblance of a trail. The trail was largely just the sandy riverbed, so there may as well have been no trail at all.

Looking back down the "trail" between Tunnel and Zebra slots.

During this time i came across two pairs of people. The first pair was an older couple with a dog who didn't seem like they had the strength to make it all the way to Tunnel Slot. I am sure they perished. The second pair of people were a couple from Amsterdam, and the guy was a photographer. They unfortunately arrived at Zebra Slot exactly as i was getting ready to enter it. They were very pleasant, and being a photographer, he was patient about waiting while i went up ahead. The slot was far too narrow for more than one or two people to be in it. In fact, there are only a couple of spots where two people might be able to get around each other.

A mile and a half later i was approaching the outlet of Zebra Slot up ahead.

Wait, is that a bit of blue sky?

I  spent about 40 minutes around Zebra Slot, and then continued on to see if i could make it to the dunes. The rock landscape was getting more interesting as i followed the wash north of Zebra Slot, but it also was getting more confusing. I followed the sand for over two miles before i came upon the large dunes. Along the way i passed a fantastic oasis, with two trees growing out of wet sand, and a small pool at the base of a slide.

Zebra Slot Canyon. On the right you can see some of those Moki Marbles embedded in the wall.

The canyon continues for a while and then ends at a dirty pool and dry waterfall.  

Looking up. Zebra Slot gets it's name from the stripes in the walls.

The sun had come out and the wind died down. The temperature on the rocks skyrocketed until i wanted to take off my shirt. Amazing, considering i started out wearing a coat and gloves. The area must be an inferno in the middle of summer. After i got hot i had to do some steep climbing and i ended up dizzy enough that i had to take a break, realizing for sure that i was sick with a cold. I'd been denying it until that point.

 Above the oasis i came upon this landscape of fantastic smooth white rock withe red stripes and pink hues. It the bright sun it was almost to much to bear.

It wasn't much longer before i reached the dunes. I had planned on walking along to their northern end, but i was tired and low on water, so i headed back. I made my way 3 miles across stabilized dunes and patches of bare rock, and i erred on the side of caution, coming back onto the sand road about 1/4 mile from the truck, which was at the end of the road. I didn't want to miss the end of the road.

This was a crucial decision point that i hadn't planned on having to make. Looking at the imagery i knew that i would encounter a pyramid shaped mesa and that i would need to walk to the left of it to get to the sand dunes. I never expected to walk up to TWO pyramid shaped mesas that were a near mirror image of each other! By this point i was getting tired, so choosing the wrong path would probably have used up the rest of my recreational willpower reserves. This was where i had to choose because the watershed divided, forking off toward each distant monument. I chose correctly.

Finally, the Big Dunes! I was too tired to bother climbing up them. Once again i've taken a picture with nothing for scale. The top of the cliffs over there is 300 feet higher than the rock i was on, and i still had at least three miles of walking through sand to get back to the truck.

On the way back i'd only driven about a mile before i came across a compact Chevy sedan, bottomed out and abandoned in the middle of the road. I couldn't believe someone would even attempt take that car all the way out here, so i got out to take pictures of it. While i was taking pictures the driver of the car came walking down the road. He was a German tourist (actually a teacher on a sort of exchange program) and he wanted to know if i could help him.

Of course i helped him. He was about 11 miles from the nearest paved road and it was close to sunset. Although i was impressed with how far he got the car before it became stuck i berated him for being foolish enough to try it. I just walked 10 miles and i was hungry, sick and dirty. I didn't want to do anything but take a shower and get some dinner before the restaurants closed in Escalante.

First i just offered him a ride back to town where he could get a tow or buy a tow line. I told him i'd come back tomorrow with him if he needed me to. He was freaking out because he claimed he had to catch a plane the next afternoon (the next day i doubted this was true because i saw him walking into the Capital Reef visitor center at the same time he said he had to be on the plane).

ATTENTION TOURISTS: NOT THE RIGHT CAR FOR THE JOB.

So we tried to dig his car out for a while, which was hopeless. I told him i'd seen a large camp halfway up the road, and that those guys might have a tow rope. The camp was still there and the guys camping were making dinner. We had arrived at exactly the wrong time, but one of them was generous enough to put aside his dinner, get on his ATV, and follow us back. He had a winch but for some reason he thought the best thing to do was try and tow the car even farther down the road to this turn out area. The sand was deeper down there so i couldn't understand why he thought that was the thing to do. He was being very generous with his time though, so i was patient while he failed.

I finally convinced him to try and tow the car backwards to the point where the surface was more firm. The car was so well beached that the ATV just kept towing itself back to the car, instead of vice versa. So we had to dig it out some more (we found out the wheels weren't really touching the ground), and nearly burned up the engine of the car before we finally got it moving toward safety. All in all it took and hour and a half for me to help that guy with his car. He was certainly excited to be free from his predicament.

The Needles

Some friends had recommended that if i went anywhere around Moab, i should go to the Needles District. They were right. It looks like i have a new No. 2 favorite location Utah. The Needles District of Canyonlands blew my mind due to it's insane and very active geologic history.



To quickly sum things up (leaving out millions of years of interesting details and early histories), the whole area experienced two uplift periods that occurred, crazily, at 90 degree angles, cracking up all the bedrock into a unnatural geometric grid. But that was only the beginning. While that was happening, the Colorado River was sitting around eroding sediments to the west, until it accidentally exposed a hidden layer of salts underneath all the sandstone.




The north portion of the district offers exploration of a forest of stone towers.

Salt has the peculiar property of behaving like a liquid when it's under great pressure. Not quite like water, but it will flow like molasses or toothpaste over time. When the Colorado exposed the salts, it opened an escape route out from under all the overlying rock. The salt began quickly flowing out into the river and the great masses above began sliding along the salt, also into the river. Today the river is actually losing the battle and is actively being pinched off. It's no coincidence that this location, Cataract Canyon, also happens to be the most infamous rapids on the entire river and nearly ended the Powell expedition almost as soon as it started.





Meanwhile, back over to the east, the whole earth has broken apart as great blocks of rock have moved toward the river or sunk as the salt moved out from under it. A whole system of parallel valleys (called Grabens) has evolved in just 50,000 years, and is actively growing right now. For a more detailed explanation you can look at the national park website


Two hikers walk out to an overlook on the far northern edge of the district.




I don't know why but i felt like i was in some hidden kingdom of Africa while driving through the grassy grabens. I kept expecting to see herds of zebra and elephant.

I went to the Needles the first day not really knowing what to expect and got there too late, so i ended up running and climbing around like a maniac before the sun went down. I went back the next day. From Moab it seems to take close to two hours to get there, and once there you have to decide where to go in the area. I decided to go out into the Grabens via the infamous Elephant Hill road. Elephant Hill is one of the most difficult dirt roads in Utah, and it sure as hell was the most technically difficult road i've driven. I've been on a few dirt roads during my time, but by the end of that day on Elephant Hill i'd experienced a whole new level of "off road" driving. According to TrailDamage.com the trail is rated in a category that is: the highest challenge for a stock Jeep Wrangler without body damage, winching, or possible breakage.You will need 4-Wheel Drive and you should not go alone.

A very steep hill made much easier by concrete patches.


Inside the squeeze. Notice the folded side view mirror.


Another, even steeper hill. Believe it or not, there were a few places even steeper, but i didn't trust the emergency brake enough to get out in those areas.




The beginning of the Silver Stairs. This area was more fun than hard.

With no spotter (i was alone unfortunately) it was very slow going, having to get out of the jeep myself many many times to find out how the heck i was going to get up or down every obstacle along the route. It's the first time where i regularly was staring at nothing but sky on the uphill portions, where i was hanging in the air restrained only by the seat belt on some of the downhill portions, where i had to bend the side mirrors inward to pass through narrow portions, and definitely the first road i've been on with signs telling you the switchbacks are so narrow that after descending one, you have to put it in reverse and back down the next one, putting in back into drive at the next set. Describing the route more accurately requires a new lexicon of terminology. I understood why a regular truck was not recommended.




A pseudo cave on the Joint Trail. You can see a crack in the roof and the sky is visible through it.


Shelter from the sandstorm.


An intersection in the joint complex.


A very windy slot canyon that eventually offered a way on top.

My exploration by road was halted when i realized i might not have enough gas to get back if i continued onward. I stopped at a place called the Joint Trail, which goes through an area called Chester Park. Although i was saddened to have to stop, the trail was perfect for the weather conditions. The high pressure system that brought the snow was being forced away by high winds bringing warmer temperatures. Windblown sands limited visibility at times causing hikers and campers to flee, their faces covered with shirts. I've been in worse sandstorms, although i would have preferred NOT to have sand in my eyes and mouth, and it was strong enough to sting the legs. I had to keep my camera tucked away for much of the day.


Above the joints and grabens was a surreal cityscape of fanciful stone pillars, or "needles".





The joint trail provided perfect shelter from the sandstorm. It climbed into a maze of the pedestals and followed the natural joints between them. When it did emerge above ground i seemed to be above most of the sand, although it was still very windy. I vowed to return.


I made it off the Elephant Hill trail right at sunset.


Part of the Chester Park area.


Newspaper rock. I recognized newspaper rock from a history book way back in high school.


Island in the Sky is visible on the horizon.

The White Rim

From the Island in the Sky you can look down and see both the Colorado River and the Green River in their respective canyons far, far below, in a prehistoric setting. The cliffs of Island in the Sky are 1,000ft high. Below them is an intermediate plateau that stretches out a good distance before shattering into a million fractals at another set of 1,000 foot cliffs. The cliffs have the peculiar feature of being crowned in white rock.


The white rim rock lies on top of softer shales. They erode out from underneath, forming large overhangs that eventually collapse. What's left are columns of the red rock with a protective cap of harder white rock on their tops.

I love the white rock. I knew it would be there because I’ve looked at it extensively in Google Earth and it looked just the same from a few miles away on the Island in the Sky, as it looks from space. Also visible running across that plateau is a long road that appears to encircle the entire Island district. The name of that road is the White Rim Trail, and it’s 105 miles of dirt and bedrock. The rangers say you can’t take a stock car on it. I didn’t quite believe them, but I knew the disappointing, low clearance Jeep Patriot I had rented would not be up to the task, and I really wanted to go….. so I rented a custom modified Jeep Wrangler, lifted 4 inches, for two days. It wasn't cheap either, so I had to make good use of it. That's the only time i've ever rented TWO cars at the same time. That's crazy.


The Jeep i rented to take down the road and...


The road down which i took the Jeep.

Getting down into the white rim trial I took the old Shepard's Trail. It descends spectacularly down 1,500 feet in 1.25 miles. The road had just opened after being closed for 3 days due to the snow. Some snow was still hanging on in the shaded areas and the runoff made the road very slippery in those areas. Since the whole road is on the side of a huge cliff that was a bit scary at one particular hairpin u-turn. Down below, in mid canyon I found the road to be very rough, consisting largely of exposed bedrock. Often the road was literally on the edges of huge rock cliffs, sometimes on overhangs. Those portions were definitely thrilling, but for the most part the white rock turned out to be far less fun to drive on than to walk on. It took me 4.5 hours to go 37 miles (which, compared to that stupid PAVED road to Hana is actually not so bad).


Because passing can be difficult, they generally recommend you go only one way.


The road was made even a bit narrower by a ditch along the cliffs. Hairpin turn up ahead.


One of many huge overhangs you drive on.

I decided my goal was a campground called “The White Crack”. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I had a vague, very old memory of hearing someone talk about it when i worked at the Grand Canyon. All along the road you drive by these towers of rock that are breaking off the side of the canyon. The White Crack turned out to be an area where you could walk out onto some of these free standing pillars. They were in the process of separating from the canyon rim, and to get out on them you had to hop across some narrow, deep cracks. Some of them you could see right through to the ground about 70 feet below. At some points there was open air on both sides of you only a few feet away. The view was spectacular.


In many places you can walk out on to the columns by walking over the "cracks" in between them.

It became apparent after looking around at the White Crack campground that I was on the dividing line separating the two watersheds of the Colorado River and the Green River. Just a few miles to the south the two rivers joined up, doubling the size of the Colorado. That area was hidden from view by a high mesa in front of me.


This was at the end of the White Crack, and the continuing ridge line is the divide between the watersheds of the Colorado and Green rivers. Below is a closer view of the mesa in the distance.



I made one stop on the way back at an area i had spied from up high on the Island in the Sky. There was this insanely narrow and tall spire of rock that i had seen, and i really wanted to see it up close. I caught a glimpse of it on the way over the the white crack campground, but then it was on the opposite side of a canyon from me. On the way back i made a guess about where to go when the road came close to the edge. I got out and walked out along these towers and i could see that narrow spire. I picked a nice spot, although i was still too far away. To get closer i'd have had to leave the road at another point and walk at least two miles to the edge, without knowing for sure if that area would offer an unobstructed view or not.


After climbing out onto the monuments, i could see that lone pinnacle. It's in the distant center of this picture, taken a few minutes before it's base went into the shadows. Grrr... i wanted to get closer but ran out of light.


Here you can see part of the great anticline that makes Canyonlands possible. The Grand Canyon is the result of the same type of feature, and it's what makes the horizon look tilted in this image.

Sunset came and went a little too quickly. I got a few pictures (but not enough) and began to make the long, long drive back along the very edges of all those cliffs, in the dark. It was a very tiresome, sometimes tedious task. It would have been preferable to camp and complete the road the next day. Some areas where the road crossed wide expanses of the white rock it was hard figure out if I was indeed on the road or not. I couldn’t get lost though, because in just a few seconds of heading the wrong direction my lights would disappear over the precipice, sometimes illuminating the canyon wall on the other side in narrow areas. The most scary portions of the road during the day were actually less fearsome at night due to the darkness hiding all of the scary facts. I didn’t make it off the trail until nearly 10:30 pm and then still had 40 miles of paved driving to do.


Early in the day this area reminded of 2001.


The landscape across the Green River looked interesting.


A group of bikers eating lunch on an escarpment overlooking the Colorado River.