Zebra Slot Canyon

Date 2011-06-17
Distance 3.6 km2.2 mi
Duration 1h:07m
Photos 29

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Overview: Zebra Slot Canyon is a very fun, family-friendly (we brought our 10-month-old) hike in south-central Utah. It's less popular than Peek-a-Boo Canyon or Spooky Canyon, which means you don't have to deal with as many crowds. The hike is not as scenic as some, but it's still very pretty and very much worth the hike.My GPS quit working part way through the hike, so here are the actual statistics:Length: 5.12 miles (round trip)Duration: 3 hours (round trip)Story: We decided to spend a couple days hiking the Canyons of the Escalante. Zebra slot canyon was our first canyon.We left Richfield, UT on Thursday night at about 7:00pm. The trailhead for Zebra Slot Canyon is located right after the third cattle guard (37°38'21.94"N, 111°26'44.91"W). About 0.2 miles past the trailhead, there is a road that forks to the right (west). That's where we camped the first night ( 37°38'13.98"N, 111°26'45.78"W). It wasn't a very good campsite because of all the cow pies from the nearby corral, but it worked for us. There's no fire ring or anything.Friday morning, we started the hike at about 8:45. The first half-mile of the hike is not very interesting. When we went in the middle of June, there were tons of wild flowers. We're not normally into that sort of thing, but there were so many different types of flowers that we tried to take a picture of each kind. I'd be interested to know the names of the flowers if anyone out there knows???The trail then crosses several meanders of the Halfway Hollow wash. A couple of these hills are a little bit steep, but they're not too bad. You can always stay in the wash if you choose. At  37°38'55.90"N, 111°25'47.91"W, there is a pothole carved out of the sandstone. A great article on how potholes are formed can be found at http://geology.utah.gov/surveynotes/gladasked/gladpotholes.htm.At  37°39'19.29"N, 111°25'8.22"W, the trail drops down into the wash and heads to the north (Tunnel Slot Canyon is to the south then east). From here on out, the trail is a lot more difficult to follow. Stay in the wash to the north, and you'll be fine. The loose sand makes walking much more difficult. Keep an eye out for Moqui Marbles in the sand. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo_Sandstone#Iron_oxide_concretions_.28Moqui_marbles.29 for an explanation of how Moqui Marbles are formed.)The mouth of Zebra Slot Canyon is located at 37°39'39.14"N, 111°25'1.89"W. The entire slot canyon is very pretty, but the last 100 feet are especially beautiful. The red-and-white striped walls are unique to this canyon.The end of the canyon is a series of large potholes that prevent most hikers from continuing. Look closely in the bottom of the pothole and you'll see hundreds of Moqui Marbles in the bottom. Many hikers choose to visit Tunnel Slot Canyon on the same trip as Zebra Slot Canyon, but we didn't want to get wet on this trip, so we just hiked straight back to the car.More:
Here's where I put in a shameless pitch for my website. Check out http://dyeclan.com/outdooractivities/ for canoeing, canyoneering, caving, fun places, hiking, hot springs, and rock climbing in and around Utah!
Specific pages related to this hike: Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Zebra Slot Canyon, Peek-a-Boo Slot Canyon, Spooky Slot Canyon, Brimstone Gulch, Little Canyon, Dry Fork Narrows of Coyote Gulch, Devil's Garden, Batty Pass Caves

0.00 Miles / 0 Minutes: Trailhead at parking lot
0.51 Miles / 12 Minutes: Intercept the wash
0.76 Miles / 19 Minutes: White stuff in wash (gypsum?)
1.24 Miles / 29 Minutes: Pothole (be sure to check it out
1.34 Miles / 33 Minutes: Hanging fence (cattle guard?)
1.38 Miles / 35 Minutes: Striped rock - hint of what's to come
2.00 Miles / 51 Minutes: Drop into wash
2.20 Miles / 58 Minutes: Moqui Marbles
2.44 Miles / 1 Hour 6 Minutes: Mouth of Zebra Slot Canyon
2.56 Miles / 1 Hour 26 Minutes: End of Zebra Slot Canyon

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