Is This America’s Best National Monument?

From Admiralty Island in Alaska and Agate Fossil Beds in Nebraska to Virgin Islands Coral Reef in the Caribbean and Yucca House in Colorado, the U.S. boasts 131 national monuments.

That’s roughly twice the total number of national parks. Add the fact that many of them are remote, obscure and rarely filmed or written about, it’s difficult for anyone to know which ones to visit.

But there’s a strong case that Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) in southern Utah — managed by the Bureau of Land Management rather than the National Park Service — might be the undisputed heavyweight champ of America’s national monuments.

The park takes its name from two of its three major geographical features.

The Grand Staircase is part of a series of immense plateaus that gradually descend between Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon. The Escalante Canyons were formed by an eponymous river and its tributaries. In between is the colossal Kaiparowits Plateau, stretching more than 50 miles between the town of Escalante and the Colorado River.

The monument was signed into reality by President Clinton in 1996. Energy companies convinced the Trump administration to downsize the monument by 47% so they could explore coal reserves in the Kaiparowits. One of the first things the Biden administration did after taking office in 2020 was restoring the original size.

Huge, Handsome and Untouched

By any stretch of the imagination, Grand Staircase-Escalante is huge. Nearly 1.9 million acres, GSENM is huge. The third largest federal preserve in the Lower 48 states after Death Valley and Yellowstone national parks. Larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined.

It’s also gorgeous. A vast wilderness spangled with slot canyons, golden cliffs, rock arches, slickrock formations and other desert landscapes, as well as forests and flower-filled meadows at higher points like the 7,000-foot-high Kaiparowits Plateau.

And pristine. Almost totally unspoiled. While roads (both paved and unpaved) offer access to many of the monument’s most popular trails and geological wonders, most of the region is inaccessible unless you’re on foot, bike, horseback — or helicopter if you’ve got those kinds of bucks.

And a wildlife wonderland. A blend of diverse ecosystems, extreme remoteness, and not-a lot-of humans means that animals have the park largely to themselves.

From black bears, bobcats and badgers to bighorn sheep, coyotes and mountain lions, more than 60 mammals are known to inhabit Grand Staircase-Escalante. More than 200 bird species call the area home, including the endangered giant condor, bald eagle and peregrine falcons. And researchers have found over 650 different bee species in the region, some of them populating no more than a tiny ecological niche.

Once upon a time, another type of wildlife was also abundant — dinosaurs. Paleontologists have uncovered thousands of fossils, from the oldest Tyrannosaur ever discovered (80 million years) and a huge duck-billed dinosaur, to five species of horned Ceratops and a giant crocodile-like Deinosuchus.

Twenty-five of the dinosaur species are unique to the region. There’s even one named after the park — Gryposaurus monumentensis (“hook-beaked lizard from the monument”).

Adventure Time

Mountain biking aficionados consider Grand Staircase-Escalante one of the world’s premier sites for off-road cycling and bikepacking. The premier long-distance route is the 160-mile (257-km) Grand Staircase Route, a three to four-day ride along dirt roads that includes a chance to camp beside the super-remote north shore of Lake Powell.

Long-distance hiking is also epic. For those who can make their way through the wilderness with GPS, compass and a topographic map, there are numerous possibilities. The Hayduke Trail — a 812-mile (1,307-km) unmarked route between Arches and Zion national parks — runs right through the middle of GSENM.

However, you don’t have to be a marathon biker or hiker to hit many of the monument’s highlights. Located on scenic State Highway 12, the town of Escalante is the jumping off point for day trips and short hikes in the north.

Load up on maps, brochures, and the latest road and weather conditions at the Escalante Interagency Visitor Center on the town’s western edge of town before striking out on your own.

Just east of town is a turnoff to the Hole-in-the-Rock Trail, an unpaved road that shoots south to trailheads for the Devil’s Garden hoodoos, Peek-A-Boo Slot Canyon, the 20 Mile Wash Dinosaur Trackway, and the bizarre Cosmic Ashtray rock formation.

Highway 12 offers roadside trailheads for the Calf Creek Trail to Calf Creek Falls and the Escalante Natural Bridge Trail along the oasis-like Escalante River to a soaring red-rock arch.

Crawling Along Hell’s Backbone

For a total change of pace (and scenery), Hell’s Backbone Road runs 40 miles (65 km) between Escalante and Boulder. Rising from the desert, the route steadily climbs into the densely wooded highlands of Dixie National Forest and over the harrowing Hell’s Backbone Bridge. Dubbed the “scariest bridge in Utah,” the span was originally built in the 1930s over a narrow 1,500-foot (457-meter) deep gorge.

U.S. Highway 89 meanders along the southern edge of the national monument between Glen Canyon Dam and Kanab. Big Water Visitor Center is the place to glean info and maps about this region.

Right outside of Big Water is the trailhead for Wahweap Hoodoos and farther west along Highway 89 are a turnoff to Paria ghost town (where several Western movies, including parts of The Outlaw Josey Wales, were filmed).

Those with four-wheel-drive and high clearance can cruise Cottonwood Canyon Road to trailheads for Lower Hackberry Canyon and the fabled Grosvenor Arch. A rare double natural bridge, it was discovered in the 1930s during a National Geographic expedition through the last part of the Lower 48 states that had yet to be mapped.

Enter Sandman

BLM dispersed (free) camping is allowed in much of the national monument, however there are organized campgrounds at Calf Creek, Deer Creek and White House, as well as state park campgrounds at Kodachrome Basin and Escalante Petrified Forest with its shady lakeside campsites.

The coolest place to stay on the monument’s north side, Yonder Escalante resort near Escalante town offers designer cabins, restored Airstream trailers, and RV sites with hookups. Amenities include a food truck, swimming pool, upscale shower blocks, and classic movies that you watch from vintage cars at a mock drive-in theater.

Down south, overnight options include glamping at Under Canvas Lake Powell-Grand Staircase and the chic Amangiri resort, as well as copious motel-style accommodation in Kanab, UT and Page, AZ