Southern Utah’s 1.87-million-acre wilderness was the last place America ever mapped

It’s bigger than Delaware

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument covers about 1.87 million acres of southern Utah, which makes it slightly larger than the entire state of Delaware. It was the last place in the contiguous United States that anyone got around to mapping.

The Bureau of Land Management runs it, the first national monument the agency ever took on. Three sections divide the land: the Grand Staircase, the Kaiparowits Plateau, and the Canyons of the Escalante.

Four visitor centers in Escalante, Kanab, Cannonville, and Big Water can point you in the right direction, and you’ll need the help.

Rock layers spanning 275 million years

President Bill Clinton designated the monument in Sept. 1996. The rock beneath your feet here spans nearly 275 million years of geologic history.

Back in the 1870’s, geologist Clarence Dutton looked at the landscape and described it as a giant stairway, a series of colorful cliffs and terraces stepping up from the Grand Canyon north to Bryce Canyon.

Each step exposes a different chapter of Earth’s past, from ancient seas to vast deserts. The Fremont and ancestral Puebloan peoples lived here, too.

Their rock art and ruins still scatter across the monument.

A 126-foot waterfall at the end of a sandy trail

Lower Calf Creek Falls drops 126 feet into a clear pool at its base, and you can swim in it.

The trail runs about six miles round trip and is rated moderate, but the sand underfoot makes it feel longer than the distance suggests. Along the way, you’ll spot ancient granaries and pictographs on the canyon walls.

The trailhead sits on Scenic Byway 12, about 15 miles east of the town of Escalante. Give yourself extra time. The sand slows everybody down.

Squeeze through 10-inch-wide slot canyons

Peek-a-Boo and Spooky Gulch sit about 26 miles down the unpaved Hole-in-the-Rock Road from Escalante. Getting into Peek-a-Boo means scrambling up a 12-foot rock face right at the start.

Spooky Gulch narrows to as little as 10 inches wide in certain spots. You can hike both as a loop of about 3.5 to 4. 5 miles.

No technical gear required, but you need to be comfortable with tight spaces and basic rock scrambling. Claustrophobia and these canyons do not mix.

Zebra Canyon’s striped walls close in around you

Zebra Slot Canyon gets its name from the striking striped patterns running across its narrow walls.

It’s one of the shorter slot canyon hikes in the area, but the canyon gets so tight that you’ll turn sideways to squeeze through in places. Standing water pools in the deepest sections, so expect to wade.

You’ll find the trailhead off Hole-in-the-Rock Road, closer to Escalante than Peek-a-Boo and Spooky. Wear shoes you don’t mind getting wet.

Hoodoos and arches right next to the parking lot

Devil’s Garden sits about 12 miles down Hole-in-the-Rock Road, and it’s one of the easiest stops in the whole monument. Wind and water spent 166 million years carving the sandstone here into hoodoos and natural arches.

Metate Arch is the star, a thin sandstone span that frames the desert sky and lands in half the photos you see of this place. The formations sit right next to the parking area, and you’ll even find picnic tables here.

Families and photographers crowd in for good reason.

Backpacking through Coyote Gulch’s natural cathedral

Coyote Gulch is widely considered the best backcountry canyon in the monument.

Towering sandstone walls line the route, and you’ll pass waterfalls, natural bridges, and massive arches along the way. Jacob Hamblin Arch rises over the canyon floor like a natural cathedral.

Stevens Arch measures about 160 feet tall and 220 feet wide.

Most people do Coyote Gulch as an overnight backpacking trip, with routes ranging from about 12 to 26 miles round-trip. You need a free backcountry permit, and you pack out all waste, including human waste.

A double arch 150 feet above the ground

Grosvenor Arch is actually two sandstone arches standing about 150 feet above the ground, with the larger one measuring close to 100 feet across.

It carries the name of Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, a former president of the National Geographic Society. You’ll find it in the western part of the monument, off Cottonwood Canyon Road south of Cannonville.

A short paved sidewalk leads from the parking area to the arches. It’s one of the easiest sights to reach in the entire monument.

Mushroom-shaped rocks two stories tall

The Toadstool Hoodoos look exactly like they sound: mushroom-shaped rock formations where soft sandstone eroded beneath harder caprock. Some stand knee-high.

Others rise roughly two stories. The hike out is about 1.5 miles round trip and rates easy. You’ll find the trailhead along Highway 89 between Kanab and Page, Ariz.

No permits, no fees. Photographers love this spot at sunset and under dark skies at night. It’s one of those places that looks different every hour of the day.

Walk through a creek as canyon walls rise around you

Willis Creek is one of the most family-friendly slot canyons in the monument. The trail runs about 4.5 miles round trip and requires no climbing or scrambling at all. You walk straight through the creek bed as canyon walls rise on both sides.

The narrows stay wide enough that they never feel tight or closed in. Water shoes help, since parts of the trail go directly through the creek.

If you want the slot canyon experience without the tight squeezes of Peek-a-Boo or Spooky, this is your trail.

Fifteen dinosaur species are found nowhere else on Earth

The Kaiparowits Plateau, sitting in the center of the monument, ranks as one of the richest fossil areas in the world. At least 15 dinosaur species found here have turned up nowhere else on Earth.

Horned dinosaurs, duck-billed dinosaurs, a 30-foot tyrannosaur, and an armored dinosaur with a club tail. About 76 million years ago, this was a lush tropical landscape crossed by rivers.

Preservation runs so deep that some fossils include skin impressions and marble-sized dinosaur eggs. Scientists keep pulling discoveries out of the rock.

The Milky Way from horizon to horizon

The monument sits so far from any city that on clear nights, the Milky Way stretches across the sky from one horizon to the other. Backcountry camping is allowed throughout with a free overnight permit.

Most roads here are unpaved, and very few trailheads sit on paved roads, so the landscape pays back anyone willing to push deeper in. Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef national parks sit close enough to add to a trip.

But out here, alone in the dark, you won’t be thinking about the next park.

Explore Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah

You can visit Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument year round, and there’s no entrance fee.

The monument sits between Bryce Canyon National Park to the west and Capitol Reef National Park and Glen Canyon to the east. Gateway towns include Escalante and Boulder to the northeast, and Kanab to the southwest.

Scenic Byway 12, a 123-mile All-American Road, winds along the northern edge. Spring and fall bring the best hiking temperatures.

Bring a high-clearance vehicle for the unpaved roads, and count on limited cell service once you leave town. Pack extra water, food and supplies.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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