Hole in The Rock Road

Map route

Approximately:

• Lower Calf Creek (A) to Devil's Garden (B) : 23 miles of track and 1:00
• Devil's Garden (B) to Dry Fork Coyote Gulch (C) : 15 miles of track and 1:00
• Dry Fork Coyote Gulch (C) to Willow Gulch Trailhead (D) : 16 miles of track and 1:00
• Willow Gulch Trailhead (D) to Fortymile ridge road (E) : 10 miles of track and 40 mn
• Fortymile Ridge road (E) to Escalante PF campground (F) : 48 miles of track and 2:50

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Thursday, June 4 (continued)

And we're going on the track Hole in the Rock Road (HTRR) that we'll have tomorrow. It's a perfect, wide and almost flat track, no driving problem and we quickly arrive (within 20 minutes) at Devil's Garden.
Pleasant walk among rock formations, arches and monoliths ... .
It is indeed a site to do with children as it's so easy. We are alone for our circuit, and only towards the end, a young couple joined us, but leaves shortly

We leave this place at 5:45 pm and go back to SB12; I'm looking around, the track does not present any difficulty. It's noted for tomorrow.
Arrived at the hotel, we empty the car (cooler and bags); on menu: bathroom, processing photos, quick snack, internet and sleep later (in a true bed)!

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Friday, June 5

Wake up at 7 am and depart at 9 am for Peek-A-Boo via HTRR (64°F and very cloudy sky). As expected, the track is perfect until Devil's Garden, and we drive it at a sustained speed. Then, I take a bit more attention and at one point, the soil becomes all white with lots of deep ruts; we cross this area with the gearbox on "Low", but hopefully on a quite short distance.
Turning on the left, we passed a ranger who seems surprised to see us around; arriving after a little sandy track at the parking for Dry Fork, Peek-A-Boo and Spooky Gulch Trail at 9:55 am.
Time to put hiking boots, backpacks, sunscreen and then add the point of parking lot in the GPS and we insert our names on the register at 10:15 am. The descent begins, clearly marked with cairns but some parts are sandy; a quite strong wind helps us to withstand the 82°F ambient temperature.
We enter Dry Fork Canyon where we walk (the ground is flat) between the cliffs for about 0.3 mile before coming back. Some large caterpillars, apparently fell from the plateau, litter the ground.

The entrance of Peek-A-Boo is blocked; a couple is waiting while some young people are trying to get down and a big puddle of water "locks" the foot of the entrance.
After photographing a beautiful Datura or Jimsonweed (sacred flower for the Navajos) just right of the entrance, we go towards Spooky Gulch, a half-mile away.

After a small walk in the bed of the wash (without shade) and a bit of trampling in soft sand, we find the entrance of Spooky Gulch. This slot canyon is very narrow and we love it. Shortly after the entrance, a chokestone (I have been slow to understand!) almost forces us to get on all fours and quickly, we must drop the backpack, tighten the buttocks, hold in our stomach and chest!
A few contortions later, I turned back but Isabelle continues a little bit further.

In the wash, the wind, which was nice downhill, quickly becomes tedious, carrying much sand that whips, bites, scratches and penetrates everywhere.
Back to Peek-A-Boo always crowded and we begin the ascent with some short cuts to avoid sandy areas. From above, we see the entrance to Peek-A-Boo (center of photo 13).

Starting at 0:25 pm for Broken Bow Arch. The track quickly becomes harder and we cross Carcass Wash (aptly named?) on low gear. An hour later, we arrive at the Willow Gulch trailhead and begin the descent by 82°F at 1:45 pm; the trail is mostly sandy, with thankfully few parts of slickrock.
Quickly arrived in the wash, we follow it and, at a junction, we encounter a couple of "grannies" who turned back because of the risk of thunderstorm. We continue anyway and soon meet an American couple with their 2 dogs. Discussions, cuddling especially with the Golden Retriever and we make a u-turn with them because they tell us also that they fear the storm; the sky is very cloudy and as they are "local" people, we trust them.
Back to the car at 3 pm, with a few photos of The Graduate (name we gave by our own to a rock).
The way up in the sand is quite hard and we end up drinking a beer with "our" Americans from St. Gorges. Goodbye Dogs!

We take the road back (we will not go further down that track) and Isabelle prepares the snack because it begins "to hunger"; we end up on the parking lot of Dance Hall, natural amphitheater carved into the rock.

After this brief stop, we go back to Sunset Arch at 4:05 pm.
We park the car at Water Tank on the hill, and begin walking in the sand at 4:35 pm with mild temperatures (73°F). Fortunately, because Isabelle does not like this hike where, in view of the clouds, it was clear that there would be no interesting sunset.
I continue alone until another arch below (Moonrise Arch), which appears to be much recent.

We're back to the car at 6:15 pm and continue the way back of HTRR. About half an hour later, between the branches of Chimney Rock and Red Well, I am trying to avoid a very big hole on the left side of the track (yey seen on the way), I keep right when Isabelle shouts "CAUTION ... too late! ...

Stop and out of the car; "oops", I really keep to the right but to much. As a result, the wheels are in the soft sand, slightly below the track, with the wash even lower, ouch!, ouch!, ouch!    Try to pull ahead and backward ... nothing to do! We're stuck! Great! We're in deep shit!

As we block the runway, the only consolation is to say that the next vehicle will be forced to stop. Hope it's a big one!
Indeed, shortly after, a big red 4WD arrives and two women descended, accompanied by their children. I ask the driver if she has a rope or things similar and she starts to look into the boxes of the trunk, while telling me that usually, it was her husband who takes care of these problems (but he is not there!). She quickly finds a strap strong enough to tow our car and I try to hook it on underneath the car as no attachment point is found elsewhere.
Meanwhile, a second 4WD comes with 3 men on board, phew! But none of them wants to drive the first 4WD, ouch. As I slipped into my seat, the driver of the 4WD begins in the axis of the track and starts to drive back. And suddenly ... loud scream!!!
The driver stops. Our vehicle has begun to recede by slipping dangerously towards the wash. Isabelle is scared.
One of three men then decide to take the wheel of 4WD; he positions the car at 45 degrees to the track axis while the other 2 left open the rear door of our car and act as a balancer (about 400 lb, it isn't nothing), because they are afraid of seeing our car falling in the wash.

Thirty seconds later, a big boost on the pedal gasand presto, everything is set (phew!). It only remains to remove the strap that was well tighten.

Very warm thanks to all; they do not want to accept anything or drink and we leave first. All this did not even last one hour. Isabelle noted later that I drove more slowly thereafter.

As it was very gray and cloudy (but bright) all the day, the sky cleared by the north-west and the sun shines strongly in front of us, dazzling us. After passing through Escalante, we arrive at the camp at 8:30 pm. Site No. 15 that we had reserved was taken. The occupant tells us that the site 20 is free for us but in case of problem, the solution "Philip" will work. We settle on 20, where a butterfly tells us that we still pay $8 (plus $16 already paid). I head to the reception desk, but it is always "CLOSED", which is hardly surprising for the late hour.
Shortly after, a volunteer named Guy walks in the park to collect his due, and little discussion, Isabelle goes away, exhausted, but finally he is right: we were not allowed to make our reservation as we did it. It's only by phone or at the reception desk.
As I retorted that the reception desk is always closed, he said he was in the caravan on the side, as the premise is being renovated (why a "Closed" sign in this case?).
I finally pay those $8, which actually correspond to the reservation (a bit expensive, no?). Guy told me he could put us out but now we can enjoy to showers (hopefully warm).
As we begin to prepare our meal, an American comes and asks us whether we want food, because he ended his vacation and went back home. Nice, no? We thus inherit a gallon of milk, sausages and bread for several days.