Well we finally went out on our first major excursion of the year and boy did we need it. The cabin fever was definitely setting in. I don’t know how the winter has been for you but for us its been a little weird. For the most part it has been mild, not too much snow or rain for that matter. The issue that we had was with the temperature. It couldn’t decide if it wanted to be warm or cold. This didn’t help the cabin fever at all. It would become warm enough for us to want to go out and then the next day plummet back down to freezing. Finally we had enough, we loaded up the Jeeps and headed to Southern Utah to explore the Barracks Trail.
This trip is one that we have been planning on doing for sometime now. We were suppose to do this last year but everyone in our group had conflicting schedule and we could never get then to line up. Because of this it had been placed on the back burner and temporarily forgotten for other activities and adventures. In January it was thrown out to the group; this is what we are doing. If you can make it, awesome. If you can’t we’ll catch you next time. Surprisingly, most of us had no previous engagements. We picked a weekend in February that work and head out.
The Barracks Trail is located near the Coral Pink Sand Dunes in-between the towns of Kanab and Mount Carmel Junction, Utah. There are several places that you can get onto the trail. From our understanding the actual trailhead is just outside of Mount Carmel Junction. We chose to come in at the end of the trail for reason that I will get into later.
The trail is not too difficult. It is mostly a well traveled two-track road with the occasional slick rock and sand hills. The draw of the trail is the beautiful scenery that you find yourself in. Sheer red rock walls rise above you forming the canyon. Desert foliage all around, which I’m sure is a lot more stunning in the spring and summer.
The Barracks is a fun little trail. The scenery is spectacular but the real reason for doing the trail is the Virgin River. For the majority of the trail the road follows the river, in truth it actually crosses through it and that was the fun part. There is 22 crossing in total, not all of them are required to finish the trail so you can choose which ones you want. I would suggest doing them all. It occurred to me that if there is water, no matter how old you are, someone has to play in it. It didn’t take too long before one of us went barreling through it sending a wake of water that cover the whole jeep. Not to be out done the rest followed suit.
Playing in the water was fun but that was not my favorite part. We came around a corner into a shadow covered canyon and was surprised by what we had found. The shadow had lowered the temperature enough that the ground had become a sheet of ice from the splashing of vehicles passing through. You almost had to drive slow for the fear of spinning out. I’m not going to lie, for a brief moment the thought of gassing it to see if I could do a doughnut did cross my mind. We still need to drive out jeeps home so it was probably I good thing I didn’t take the chance of damaging them.
As we came to the end of the trail, one of our group radioed and said that they had spotted a cave off the side of the road and they were going to check it out. A short time later they called back and told us to come down to where they were. We jumped back in and made our way down. We came to a small parking area and to our surprise there was a good size hole in the side of the mountain. Thinking about it now, I’m not sure how we missed it in the first place.
The cave or the Belly of the Dragon, as we later found out its name, is actually a man made culvert. Originally built to funnel water underneath Highway 89 to help eliminate damage to the road. The real cool thing about the cave is that over a short period of time the water has smoothed and cut through the sandstone creating ripples and waves in the rock floor. No doubt the reason for the name. The hike through is not very difficult. There is a pretty good drop to get down to the opening and the floor is uneven, so watch your step. I don’t know the exact length of it, I would estimate at a forth of a mile or less. I could be way off though.
It time to tell you the reason why we decide to do the Barracks backwards. Mt Carmel Junction, where the trailhead is located, is about 13 miles from the Eastern gate of Zion National Park. Zion was our end goal. We had planned on spending the rest of our time exploring the park but we had one more stop to make before heading in and that was see Peekaboo Canyon.
Just up the road from the Barracks trailhead is the staging area for Peekaboo Canyon. Just like the Barracks it is popular with atvs and other off-road vehicles. You might even see the occasional horse and rider. I will point out a sign the marks the entrance to the trail. It reads: “Four Wheel Drive - High Clearance Vehicles Required”. Heed the warning of this sign. If your vehicle does not meet these requirements don’t try to make the trail. The road is mostly deep soft sand with lots of hills of varying size. Getting stuck is a high possibility. Once you get through the sand the trail empties out into a wash that leads you to Peekaboo Canyon.
We had a lot of fun playing in the river but my favorite part of the whole trip was definitely Peekaboo Canyon. Peekaboo is not the typical canyon that you are used to. It is known as a slot canyon. A slot canyon is defined as a long, narrow, and deep with sheer walls created by the erosion of drainage water. If you recall Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, they travel through one of these canyons, albeit a larger one, before finding the Holy Grail Temple.
Utah has several slot canyons waiting to be explored. One of the more famous ones is the Narrows in Zion National Park. I’ll be honest, Peekaboo was my first slot canyon. Hiking a slot canyon has be on my bucket list for a long time, I’ve never really took the time to do it. It wasn’t just me but all of us in our group were awe struck by the canyon. The height and the way that the water had shaped them was spectactular. I’m having a hard time explain just how cool it really was. We did have to be careful in a few places. Besides having to scramble over a few rocks, there were some massive icicle hanging over our heads. If one of these were to break off they could do some serious damage to whomever they landed on. All in all it was a lot of fun and we had a blast exploring Peekaboo Canyon.
Here is my warning. Do not hike any slot canyons if there is rain in the forecast. Slot canyons a prone to flash floods and the water can rise quickly. In Peekaboo you could see the evidence of this everywhere. Large pieces of debris lodge between the walls and the waterline at least 10 ft above our heads. Be careful.
The sun was getting ready to set by the time we made it back to the blacktop from Peekaboo. Our plan to spend time in Zion was no longer an option but we still had to figure out how to get back to our hotel. Ultimately the fast and most direct route was still to go through the park. Even though we didn’t make any stop the drive was definitely worth it. I hadn’t been there in a few years and completely forgot how beautiful it actual was. Hopeful next time I’m in the neighborhood I’ll get a chance spend more time and explore it more.
The first trip of 2020 is official in the books and with a little luck there will be more adventures to come.
Thanks for stopping by. Until next time.
Josh
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