The last place America mapped is full of slot canyons and it’s completely free

It’s bigger than you think it is

Southern Utah has no shortage of dramatic landscapes, but Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument sits in a category by itself.

Nearly 1.9 million acres of slot canyons, waterfalls, hoodoos, and layered cliffs stretch across the southern part of the state, and almost none of it gets crowded.

This was the last area mapped in the contiguous United States, and in some ways, it still feels that way.

You can drive for miles without passing another car, and the trails don’t fill up the way the national parks nearby do.

Three very different regions, one massive monument

The monument breaks into three distinct sections, and they don’t look anything alike.

The Grand Staircase in the west runs a series of colorful cliff bands, pink, grey, white, vermilion, and chocolate, stacked from the Grand Canyon northward toward Bryce Canyon.

The Kaiparowits Plateau in the center climbs to about 9,000 feet and is where most of the dinosaur fossil finds have turned up, more than 75 million years old and still coming out of the ground since 2000.

The Canyons of the Escalante in the east is where most visitors spend their time, and it’s easy to see why.

Lower Calf Creek Falls drops 126 feet into a cold pool

The trail to Lower Calf Creek Falls runs six miles round-trip, starting off Scenic Byway 12 about 15 miles east of Escalante.

Most of it follows the creek through a red rock canyon, and there’s more to look at than just the destination. Beaver dams sit along the water, and ancient granaries and pictographs mark the canyon walls.

The hard stretch is the sand, deep and slow in places, which earns the trail its moderate rating. At the end, a 126-foot waterfall drops into a cold, clear pool where people wade in even in summer.

Upper Calf Creek Falls is quieter and half the distance

If you want the falls without the crowd, the upper route is worth knowing about.

The hike runs about two miles round-trip and starts with a steep drop over slickrock, so watch your footing on the way down.

At the trailhead, you can already see across Calf Creek Canyon to the Pink Cliffs sitting on the western horizon. The falls measure 88 feet and drop into a pool ringed by willow and water birch.

Far fewer people make the drive to this trailhead, so once you’re there, you’ll likely have it mostly to yourself.

Spooky Gulch gets so narrow you have to turn sideways

Peek-a-Boo and Spooky Gulch sit about 26 miles south of Escalante on Hole-in-the-Rock Road, and the loop connecting them runs roughly four miles.

Peek-a-Boo asks you to scramble up a 12-foot rock face just to get inside. Spooky Gulch does something harder to prepare for: it narrows down to 10 inches in some sections.

Not 10 feet. Ten inches.

You turn sideways and push through, with sandstone pressing against your chest and back at the same time.

These two canyons are the most visited slot canyon hike in the monument, and that’s not hard to understand once you’re inside.

Zebra Canyon’s striped walls are unlike anything else here

About eight miles down Hole-in-the-Rock Road, closer to the highway than the other slot canyons, the Zebra Slot Canyon trailhead sits easy to miss if you’re not looking for it.

The hike runs five miles round-trip and takes you into a canyon where the sandstone walls show horizontal stripes in alternating shades, which is how it got its name. Like Spooky Gulch, it narrows to about 10 inches in places.

There’s often standing water inside, so either bring water shoes or plan on getting your feet wet. It’s shorter than many canyon hikes out here and a good one to pair with a morning start.

Coyote Gulch has arches, a natural bridge, and year-round water

Coyote Gulch winds through red rock with water running through it all year, which makes it feel different from the dry washes and dusty trails elsewhere in the monument.

Jacob Hamblin Arch and Coyote Natural Bridge are two of the main draws, and Stevens Arch, visible from within the gulch, spans more than 220 feet.

Most people tackle Coyote Gulch as a multi-day backpacking trip, though day hikes are possible depending on which trailhead you use.

Overnight stays need a backcountry permit, free and available at visitor centers or trailheads, and they go fast in spring and fall.

Buckskin Gulch runs 16 miles through walls 500 feet tall

The longest and deepest slot canyon in the American Southwest starts at the Wire Pass Trailhead off Highway 89 in the monument’s southern section.

Buckskin Gulch stretches 16 miles, and in some places the walls climb 500 feet above your head while the floor narrows to a path barely wide enough to walk straight.

Water has been carving this route for millions of years, and you can see every layer of that work in the sculpted stone around you. This is a serious hike with wading, obstacles, and route-finding involved.

It’s best suited for experienced hikers who know how to read canyon conditions before they go.

Devils Garden packs arches and hoodoos into a short walk

Twelve miles down Hole-in-the-Rock Road, Devils Garden sits right off the roadway and takes less than an hour to walk through.

Metate Arch and Mano Arch anchor the area, surrounded by clusters of hoodoos in deep reds and oranges that were shaped during the Jurassic period, about 166 million years ago.

There are picnic tables and restrooms here, which makes it a practical midday stop, especially if you’re traveling with kids or just need a break from driving.

It’s one of those spots you’d pass right by if you didn’t know to stop.

The Toadstools are the easiest hike in the monument

Off Highway 89, about 45 miles east of Kanab and 12 miles west of Big Water, a parking area marks the start of the Toadstool trail.

The round trip runs 1.5 miles on flat, open ground, and at the end you find mushroom-shaped balanced rock formations standing on narrow bases with wide caps of dark red rock on top.

The first one you reach is the most photographed, but the trail continues to more formations past it. No fees, no reservation, open year-round.

If you only have an hour to spare along Highway 89, this is where to spend it.

Scenic Byway 12 connects two national parks through 123 miles of red rock

Utah’s Scenic Byway 12 carries the designation of All-American Road, one of only a handful in the country, and it runs about 123 miles from Bryce Canyon National Park to Capitol Reef National Park.

The highway traces the monument’s northern edge and cuts through some of the most dramatic country on the Colorado Plateau.

The Hogback section narrows to a ridgeline with steep drop-offs on both sides, steep enough that you notice it even in a car.

Hole-in-the-Rock Road branches south off the byway, running 62 miles into the monument and connecting to most of the slot canyon trailheads.

Grosvenor Arch sits at the end of a 47-mile dirt road

Cottonwood Canyon Road runs 47 miles of unpaved track between Scenic Byway 12 in the north and Highway 89 in the south, cutting through the western section of the monument.

Near the midpoint, a short walk from a roadside parking area leads to Grosvenor Arch, a double arch named after Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, a former president of the National Geographic Society.

Most people driving the full road stop here without even planning to.

The scale of it catches you off guard, and the walk from your car to the base of the arch takes only a few minutes.

Visit Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah

You can reach the monument from the north along Scenic Byway 12 or from the south via Highway 89.

Gateway towns include Escalante, Boulder, Kanab, and Big Water, each with a visitor center that hands out free maps, current trail conditions, and overnight permits.

The monument is open 24 hours a day, every day of the year, with no entrance fee. Stop at a visitor center before you head out, especially if you plan to get off the main roads.

Cell service disappears fast once you leave the highway.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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