Kodachrome Basin State Park and Dry Fork Slot Canyons

Kodachrome Basin State Park, Utah and
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah

Started the day with sunrise at Kodachrome Basin State Park. Lots of unusual rock formations made famous by the National Geographic Society back in 1949. Smart geologists are still unsure what caused the formations. All I know is they were neat to walk and climb around.

Whatever caused the towers of rock the softer sandstone around them eroding away is what makes the area so interesting. The slick rock was really grippy and made the exploring easy going as far as footing was concerned.

All of the area was a real pleasure to explore and I enjoyed the vibrant colors. Even the dead trees stay around long enough to be interesting additions to the landscape.

After finishing up my exploration of Kodachrome Basin I headed out for the Dry Fork trailhead deep within the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. I had read of several slot canyons close to each other that were 30 miles down a rough dirt road. The middle of nowhere was close by but I was surprised to find a sign for Egypt. Didn't think I had gone quite that far this trip. I didn't check it out to see for sure.

When I arrived at the trailhead the last mile of road was bad. I parked and walked the last 1/2 mile to the trailhead. If I had 4 wheel drive I would have been fine but didn't want to get my truck stuck. Besides all told an extra mile is nothing to walk. From the trailhead I had no idea that the slot canyons were nearby. This was one time when 2 paragraphs in a guidebook were leading me on.

I followed a trail for a bit then some cairns across the rocks and soon came to the entrance of the first slot which is the dry fork. It did get a bit narrower in places but for most of its length in was between 3 and 6 feet wide. The colors were incredible along its entire length.

After following the canyon for a few miles I came to the end of it, at least where you could climb back out to the surrounding desert. I just reversed my route back through the canyon because I wanted to find the other 2 canyons to play in.

I put the camera away for the next 2 slots except for this one picture where it was getting narrower. They were much more technical and I needed my hands to climb up and into them. Peek a Boo slot was lots of fun. I was too big for Spooky Slot once I got into it a ways. Doubt I made it more that 1/4 of a mile. I would need more than a simple diet to make it all the way there. These were fun canyons to play in.