The Peekaboo Trail starts at Squaw Flats Trailhead in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park and works its way over to Peekaboo Camp.   An out-and-back hike is 10 miles, well worth a day of hiking in the area.   This (along with Upper Salt Creek) was my favorite trail of 2016.

The trail follows the same route as the Lost Canyon – Squaw Canyon Trail for 2.6 miles, then heads off east over the slickrock.   On this last visit we had hiked for 24.2 miles down to Peekaboo Camp so our final hike out was 5 miles from east to west.

Peekaboo Camp is a backcountry primitive camp with mostly dry conditions.   Water could be found in some small ponds down the old Salt Creek Road, but the site is very scenic with rock pinnacles, arches, pictographs, and some riparian vegetation.

To get out of Salt Creek Canyon and over to the main area of Needles, we had to work our way up some cracks and a steel ladder was there to help us over the bluffs.

Once on top of the ridge, there were wonderful views in every direction.   The trail wound along slickrock ledges and passed through an arch to the other side of a fin.

Cairns marked the route across the red slickrock, a marvelous experience.

The entire route to Lost Canyon follows a creative path across the rock.

As the trails descended into Lost Canyon, we left the open slickrock pinnacles behind.

The last section follows the washes, creekbeds, and benches of Lost Canyon, then Squaw Canyon back to the campground at Squaw Flats.   A perfect trail….

• Upper Salt Creek (video)
• Upper Salt Creek Canyon