Day 71: Slots are Cool! And I get a lot of sand in my shoes

I wake up at 7:30 so I can make it to the slots before the weather hits, if it does. I get dressed and look outside. Oh my! The sun is just coming over the horizon! I am never up for the sun rise! I only ever see sun sets! I enjoy it for a bit and then head off to Chris's. The baby is still asleep so I don't come inside.

Chris comes out a short time later with coffee and toast! Yayyy food and coffee!  A short time later we are off. Rowan wanted to come along so the three of us set out. We drive a short ways out of town and then turn onto a dirt road that leads through the Escalate Staircase National Monument. Oddly, there are cows grazing all over the place. Some of them stand in the road and stare blankly at me. Some of them won't move, even after honking. Or some of them run in front of the truck for a while. The calves have the most problems figuring out which way to run....

Mooooove Cows!!

26 washboard-y miles later, we reach the trail head. We start down the trail. It is horribly marked. After much wandering through the sand, we eventually clamber down some rocks and into the main canyon. Rowan, who was so keen on intentionally filling his shoes with sand yesterday, stops to empty sand out of his shoes. Chris suggests he waits until we get to the slots. He stops to empty his shoes again before we reach the slot. I decide to empty my shoes out at this point too. I hate sand in my shoes.

We see a slot. Chris thinks it is Peek A Boo slot. I am not so sure. He has been here before though so we enter the slot. To get there, it is about a 12 foot climb. Ohhh boy, this is gonna be fun. Right after we get in, a group of 6 comes up behind us. We let them go by so we don't hold them up. Rowan is doing great but he is still pretty young and takes his time. He also stops to look at everything along the way. He loves nature!  This is awesome but we are trying to beat the weather, if it comes, so we try to hurry him along. He does not yet understand the danger of flash flooding. Being stuck in a slot canyon when it starts to rain would be quite bad. We checked the radar and multiple forecasts to make sure we wouldn't get rained on. The earliest the showers might start is 2... we have plenty of time if we keep moving!

The entrance to the first slot!

Climbin around in Peek A Boo Canyon

We wind through varying narrowness of the canyon. Some areas we can walk almost two abreast, others we we can barely slide through sideways. It is a pretty sweet climb up to the top. We wind through the beautifully sculpted sandstone. It is amazing what wind and water can do!

Arches carved in the slots

At the top, we run into the group of 6. You are not supposed to go from one canyon to the other along the back areas. You are supposed to go up and back each one. The group decides to go the proper way. We find a trail and start along it in the direction of the the next slot canyon, Spooky.

We follow for a bit. Ugh, sand everywhere. My shoes are full of it! No point in emptying them now...The trail then gets kind of difficult to follow. We end up at a dead end over a cliff. Oops. We back track a bit and cut across a sand dune. There is a semblance of a trail here...Eventually, we come upon another slot. We consider just dropping in. Then we look at it. It is about 15 feet to the bottom. Not happening. We walk a short ways to what would be the end and enter.

I climbed up to the top. Wouldn't want to drop in here.....

The first part of the canyon is pretty wide and easy. It then starts to narrow and wind. Oooo, fun!  We then come upon an area where a bunch of boulders have fallen in. I hop over the boulders. I get to the last one and look down. It is a good 20 foot drop. No way in hell. Rowannnn, do not follow me! Chris and I scout around and finally find a way to drop through the rocks. I get myself wedges in there, preparing for the final drop to the bottom of the canyon. "Uhhh, this is bad... Oh! Chris, take a picture of me!!" He likes my logic and takes a pictures.

I'm about to slip and fall 7 feet all outta control. Wait wait! Take a picture of me now!!

I hop down and land badly on a rock. Aww shit. Ankle. Again. Just a twist and in a few seconds the pain passes. Chris passes Rowan down to me before making the descent himself. We continue onwards. The canyon narrows and then widens a bit. We then run into the group of 6.  Ummm, there is not enough room to pass. It was narrow the way we came and we can hear the slower members of their party complaining about the narrowness in front. Rowan is small enough to slip into a crevice. Chris and I climb up the side of the canyon and let everyone pass below us. Eeeee, my foot is slippingggg go faster!

I'm about 5 feet up the wall and Chris is even higher to let everyone pass...

 They pass and we continue on the way. Chris and I drop down from the canyon side. We continue. I see what the other group was complaining about. It is extremely narrow with crazy twists and turns. Definitely not for big people or remotely claustrophobic people. Even Rowan is turned sideways in some places. We come to a large boulder that has fallen in and crawl under. Rowan comes up too soon and hits his head. Ow. That looks painful. He takes it pretty well and we continue on a short time after his trauma.

Chris and Rowan

The rocks are so cool!!!

We wind through the canyon to the end.  Hmm, looks like the main canyon. We take a right and start wandering through the area. Rowan is really tired now and it is all we can do to keep him moving. Chris finally starts carrying him. We hit a dead end. Damn it. The clouds are thickening. At least we are out of the slots so the flash flood danger is not as bad. We are still at the bottom of a canyon. We still have another hour before the earliest that the showers are supposed to start.

The end :(

We head off back the way we came. Eventually, we reach the tell tale yellowish trail in the main canyon. Yayyy!  Chris has put Rowan down again and is trying to hurry him along. Rowan keeps stopping to play in the sand and empty his shoes. Chris’s tone is getting urgent and making me really uneasy. I ask if he is really as concerned about the weather as he sounds or just trying to make a point. No, he is just trying to make a point. Ok good.  Regardless, he picks up Rowan and carries him the rest of the way up the main canyon until we get to the rocky part we have to climb up.

The trail is easier to follow coming up than going down. A short time later, we have all finally made it back to the car. I take off my shoes and pour a ridiculous amount of sand out of them. I take off my socks. Out comes more sand. I then try to brush off my feet which are also sandy. Ugh, so much sand everywhere! Everyone get clean before you get in my nice shiny clean truck!! Chris gets Rowan all nice and clean.

We have a snack and then head off back down the dirt road. We pass the 6 hikers that we had seen in the slot. I am happy that it still has not started raining. Rowan falls asleep despite all the bumps all over the place.

We make it back to the house and still no rain!  I realize I am tired. I spend the next few hours on the couch updating my blog and going through all my photos. And watching movies with Rowan. At one point, I play hanging with friends on my phone. He is fascinated by it and makes suggestions on what letters to play. Unfortunately, he is not much better at it than I am.

Chris and Justine make a quick run to pick up something. They want to make sure it is ok they leave Rowan. Nope, that is fine! He is a nice kid and entertained by the movie. And they won’t be gone long! We watch a couple of movies and before I know it, it is almost 6 and dinner is done!

Dinner is some sort of lamb stew and Indian bread which is excellent. Still no rain, but the wind has been picking up since we left our hike and has gotten pretty crazy by now. We talk at dinner and Hawthorne gets restless. He wants on the floor, then he wants held, and then he wants on the table.

Justine takes him to their room and Chris shows me the route they usually take through Canada and all the good towns to stop in and which motels are good. Very good to know. Rowan sees my desktop, which is a picture of my truck with a landshark fin drawn on it. He is then inspired to do his own photo editing. “Mommm, can I use photoshop?” Uh, that is a little high powered for you buddy. He ends up settling with playing with the Mac photo editor. Works out pretty well. He is entertained. Chris and I swap our photos from the day’s adventure and Rowan then plays with them.

I take the opportunity to shower. I didn’t do that this morning since I was going to go run around the desert and it was early. I now feel utterly gross and sand covered.  Yay, it is so nice to be clean.

It is getting later and time to put kids to bed. Time for me to head off!  I had planned to leave pretty early tomorrow and drive a few hours to Brian Head and ski. They are supposed to get a lot of snow. Unfortunately, they have been rained on today and all of the lifts are closed except for one due to wind. Regardless of any snow they might get, the wind is supposed to get worse. I don’t see any point in going if the lifts are closed. I let Chris know he is stuck with me for one more day and he says they are happy to have me. Yay! 

The weather will probably be bad so he will probably be working on the house remodel. He asks if I want to play with the saw and chop things up. Ummmm what kind of a question is that? Of course I do! 

I head back to the house I am staying at. On the way, I see a couple of deer wandering down the road. I decide to park in the carport since the wind is coming and going in strong gusts. I am concerned something might fall on it… It is too tall for the carport. Damn. Oh well, they get wind here a lot. I am sure it will be ok!  Time to blog, maybe read some, and then sleep!