Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument

While the Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument was created a decade ago, its name is still quite confusing to many first time visitors.

Many ask where the staircase is and are amazed to learn they are already on its fifth or seventh step. In fact, the “Staircase” is a vast area, consuming a good deal of southwestern Utah and some of northern Arizona in at least seven “steps.” 

Starting from the bottom: the Paria Plateau (above the Colorado River), the Buckskin Mountains, the Chocolate Cliffs, the Vermillion Cliffs, the White Cliffs, the Gray Cliffs, the Skutumpah Terrace, the Pink Cliffs, and the Pausaugunt Plateau, home to Bryce Canyon National Park. 

The 9.3 million acres of national monument includes natural bridges and arches of stylish beauty and often prodigious size, slot canyons that beckon then box out, countless square miles of moonscape terrain, the complex and often trackless Escalante River drainage, and one of the loveliest waterfalls imaginable. And that’s just the moderately well-known stuff. 

The town of Escalante – with about 1,000 souls – is in the heart of the vast acreage and supplies the needs of visitors quite well. Restaurants (the Cowboy Blues Café being the most dependable), motels (the Prospector clearly the best) and hiking/camping gear (at the Escalante Outfitters) are all available year round.

While summer can be unbearably hot, spring and fall are generally wonderful times there. Winter is anywhere from perfect to perfectly horrible.

The primary route into the heart of the monument is called Hole-in-the-Rock Road (HRR). This dirt and gravel road leaves the area’s sole highway – Utah Highway 12 – five miles to the southeast of the town of Escalante. It is well graded and usually well maintained (not counting the occasional scrubboard) as far as Dance Hall Rock.

From that point on it deteriorates rapidly. HRR travels in a southeasterly direction for just over fifty miles, ending rather abruptly at an historical – and totally unbelievable – place called Hole-in-the-Rock. For more on that, check out the legends of the early Mormon travels and travails in southern Utah.

Along the way, HRR passes a couple of day’s worth of explorable country, with smaller, poorer access roads leading off into remarkable wildlands. Following is a tip-of-the-iceberg sampling.

Twelve miles in, there’s a right turn off of HRR. It is usually marked, but that can change in a heartbeat. In two-tenths of a mile of currently marginal dirt two-track, the side road ends and the fun begins. There’s a parking area, a couple of pit toilets and a place called the Devil’s Garden. Heard the name before? Sure. There’s a large economy size version in Arches National Park. But, this is the sub-compact model. Instead of a couple of square miles this garden has a mere few acres. Not to worry, it’s still very worth the trip. There are a pair of arches, one called Metate, the other, to the best of my knowledge, is unnamed. A liberal sprinkling of small windows and a Henry Moore-inspired assortment of outlandish sandstone formations make this a great early morning or late afternoon photo opportunity. My favorite formation in the garden I’ve named the Hippo Ballet. Should you see it, I think you’ll know it.

At about 28 miles down HRR, there’s a signed left turn to the Dry Fork of Coyote Gulch. Almost two miles of winding dirt track leads to an informal parking area and the trailhead.  After a substantial downhill, a short, straight, sandy track leads to the gulch. A left turn at that point takes you directly into The Narrows, an easy and attractive walk.

Directly across from the entrance into the Dry Fork is Peek-a-boo Gulch, which in addition to being one of the neatest places I know, includes a matched pair of natural bridges. The entrance into the Peek-a-boo from the Dry Fork is quite challenging, but a short walk up a hill to its left leads to a much easier access.

One half mile to the right down Dry Fork, is the entrance into Spooky Gulch on the left. Spooky is a slot canyon that eventually gets too narrow to navigate. And it lives up to its name.

Another three quarters of a mile down Dry Gulch, also on the left, is Brimstone Canyon. Strong advice: Look, but stay out! This is not a nice place, as the Salt Lake City resident who spent three days trapped in Brimstone Canyon found out.

At about 38 miles in, a left turn off the still good dirt road on Fortymile Ridge Road provides one way to see Stevens Arch. The ways to stand beneath or actually reach the arch involve very serious hiking, one – to stand beneath it – down Harris Wash and the Escalante River Canyon, the other – to stand right in it – you just don’t want to know about. Roughly four miles in from that left turn, that glorified two-track comes to an ignominious end and the time has come for a walk.

A quasi-trail leads off to the east, continuing in the direction of Fortymile. After a three quarter mile walk to the edge of a minor precipice, a little care is needed to find the (at my last visit, still) unmarked narrow natural passage to the level below. Once down, briefly follow the trail in a slightly more northeasterly direction and you’ll soon have an outstanding view of Stevens Arch.

With a base nearly 600 feet above the river, Stevens is 225 feet wide and 160 feet high making it one of the top 10 arches in the world. While Stevens is assuredly the largest arch in Escalante Country, it has lots of smaller but still impressive company.

Jens Munthe, now a resident of Escalante, has located 630 arches, bridges and windows in the vastness surrounding his adopted home. For detailed information (in the form of the books he has written on the subject), he can be reached at P.O. Box 80 in Escalante, 84726.

About forty miles down HRR is the almost well known Dance Hall Rock. Let’s rephrase that. It’s far better known by name than sight. Many have read about it in the legion legends of the Mormon’s epic journey through this forbidding land, but not all that many folks have actually seen it. Yet. The top of the rock is easily gained around to the right as you face it. The top is easily and delightfully walked, huge, and full of potholes of incredible size. Some have trees growing in them!

There is so much more to this national monument, including the lovely Lower Calf Creek Falls. Look for Part 2 of our brief descriptions of places to see in the Grand Staircase in the July issue of Our Backyard.