360 Adventure Tunnel Slot Canyon Escalante Utah

Tunnel Slot Canyon Escalante, Utah
Tunnel Slot Canyon Escalante, Utah

360 Adventure Tunnel Slot Canyon 

Escalante Utah


  • 5.5 hours South of SLC - 1.5 hour min South East of Bryce Canyon
  • Not Overcrowded
  • Ages 8 and Above
  • Slot Canyon is hard to find unless you have good navigation tools.  
  • Tunnel can be filled with water (For me it was up to my hips in February) so be prepared to get wet.      
  • About 6.6 miles round trip
  • About 442 feet elevation
  • Easy Hike - Level 2
To get to this hike you take Hole in the Rock Road about 8 miles down the road until just past a cattle guard with a parking lot on the right hand side of the road.  The trail is just across the road from this.  

The problem with this trail is it take research to safely get through it.  I first read about this hike on both the blogs below.  

Link for Ted Miller Outdoor Blog on hike

Then I went out an bought myself an external GPS, (I first used a  GLOBAL SAT now I have a Garmin external GPS --only because I lost the first one.  They both work great)  I then downloaded the GPS corrdinates on GAIA app.   I  made sure I had extra battery supply, shoes to get wet, hot hands, paper map, a dropped pin of my car location on google maps on my phone, and then headed down the trail with my hubby hiking buddy. It is easy to get lost, so the downloaded GAIA map in the App matched with the external GPS was a life saver, and supplies to quickly get out of the wet and into dry or to get warm was also important.
We found the slot from using the ALL Trails App, but now I know Gaia GPS app with a downloaded tile would have been even better.  It is so super helpful having a GPS locator show you the trail and show you how far off you are.  It was tricky finding the slot canyon, and using this would help you easily find the slot and dropped down into it.  It was not a scary drop, just a gradual slow climb down.
Here is the start of the trail.  The colors and streaks on the cliff walls were very different here than in Zebra.  They were a mixture of reds and blacks, and greens and whites.

360 Trail of Tunnel Slot Canyon




So far to this point I could jump across the puddles, but here we cam to a challenge.  You must look down to see this guy.  It was a long stretch of water.  We could tell it was not too deep, BUT IT WAS COVERED IN ICE!!!  I took to the top to see if I could get around, but I didn't feel safe with the drop.  We changed out shoes to our water shoes, and hoped that we would be lucky and the ice would be thick enough to just cross on top.  NO Luck.  It broke right off the bat, but it was short, and we quickly dried off our feet and put on our dry shoes.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it might be.  I think I survived better than my husband for I wore shorter Capri length  Under Armor Pants and I just pulled them up and they stayed dry.  My husband didn't pull his pants up high enough and started with wet pants.  They were good cotton ones that would dry pretty quick, but they never did dry.

At this spot I was not in the mood to take my shoes off and put on my wet shoes, so I took to the task of throwing rocks into the puddle to make me a suitable crossing.  It worked out pretty good!  Here are some funny videos of me




Videos Of Going Through Tunnel in Tunnel Slot Canyon and Crossing Ice.  


The reason this is called Tunnel Slot is because the canyon narrows to a narrow oval shape that you need to walk through.  The problem is that this is usually filled up with water that can be at least up to the top of your legs.   The tunnel is about 15 feet long and about 10 feet high, so it is not too long to get too scared, but it is a little dark.   Here is videos of both me and my Husband making our way through the Tunnel.  I didn't expect it to be so deep, so I wish I would have made sure everything I wanted to stay dry was high.

Videos Going Through The Tunnel








After we finished this hike we discovered something that would have been SO AMAZING to have had.  They make Waterproof Socks you can wear when hiking something like this.  It would have kept the cold off our feet and made this hike so easy.  We didn't have any real problems from the water, for it wasn't as cold as you would think, but it definitely would have been nice to have, and we definitely own them now.

If you are interested in some more information about this hike.  Here is another google information link about this hike.
 Info from Outdoor Project about This Trail

360 Trail of Tunnel Slot Canyon



Things I loved about this hike.  The sharp straight up cliffs that are red and black with a tint of green are super interesting.  See 360 Image below.  If it is not loading, click on the View on Google Maps Button.




There are other sections where the cliffs are almost wave like and bright red with black spots.There are often puddles to jump or maneuver around that make it interesting.







We went and it was a little cold outside, so below is a 360 of me up on a cliff edge seeing if there is a way around the ice pond that you can see below me.





This is what it looks like at the End of Tunnel Slot, and then it changes to the orange rocks below that.




Below is what it looked like after we came out of Tunnel Slot Canyon.  You merge back with the trail for Zebra Slot Canyon, and it goes back to this Orange cool textured rocks.




It was so difficult to choose only a few 360 images to share this awesome hike.  If you liked this hike, click on the link below to go to Google Earth.  Click on the little dude, and then click on any blue dot where you want to see more
 Tunnel Slot Canyon

If you liked this hike you should also 

Check out Some of my other 

Favorite Hikes in ESCALANTE 


If you would like to see my favorite hikes in Escalante, here is a GoogleList with all my Escalante Favorites on a map.
___________________________________________________


WILLIS CREAK SLOT CANYON close to ESCALANTE.  

I think you would love it.


_________________________________________________

or Zebra Slot Canyon in ESCALANTE

Launches from the same trail head as Tunnel Slot and is easier to find, but is harder to get back into.  



_________________________________________

DEVILS GARDEN IN ESCALANTE

Is a delightful area to wander around amazing structures, and find fun tunnels to crawl through.  It is a delightful place to explore. 




_______________________________________

DRY FORK SLOT IN ESCALANTE


_____________________________________

UPPER CALF CREEK FALLS in ESCALANTE











I also love my waterproof hiking boots, and hiking shoes.  Waterproof is amazing when hiking!