Zebra Slot

Zebra Slot, Third time’s the charm, indeed!

The first time around I got lost doing the iconic Coyote Gulch hike, and was forced to spend the night unprepared in the canyon in freezing November. I was too tired, and had spent enough time finding my way back the next day and couldn’t muster the effort to go back and do the Zebra slot.

The second attempt I made it to the mouth of the Zebra Slot canyon in December, only to find that the slot had iced up, but not quite enough to support anyone’s weight.

I took off last Friday to make it a 4 day long weekend for the July 4th, and headed back to Escalante to do this hike in summer.

The trail-head is at the third cattle guard in the historic ‘Hole in the rock’ dirt road just outside Escalante, Utah. This dirt road was used by Mormon pioneers to chart a descent to the Colorado river, and has several access points to popular hikes like Zebra slot, Peek-a-boo slot, Tunnel slot, Spooky Gulch, and Coyote Gulch. None of these hikes are marked, and they require a little bit of route finding, and map navigating skills.

The 6-mile hike to Zebra slot has no elevation gain, and the path is well traveled; however, the pay-off isn’t great if you’re not into photography. The last mile is through a wash. Walking through loose sand in the high desert sun is nobody’s idea of fun, and it does get super claustrophobic at the slot; however, it does lead you to this photogenic spot with pink striated strips.
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