April 3rd-6th, 2018
Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument
Escalante, Utah
On the Map: Grand Staircase Escalante NM
The purple depicts Grand Staircase Escalante’s boundaries. It’s huge! It’s bigger than the Great Salt Lake. The largest lake in the U.S. that’s not a great lake.
Overview
A short 45 minute drive from Bryce Canyon is the enormous Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. It spans from the eastern boundaries of Bryce Canyon to Lake Powell Recreation Area.
To be honest we knew very little about what to do at the monument. Luckily we passed by an open visitor center on the way and a friendly staff member gave us more than enough information to keep us busy for weeks. We planned for about 4 full days including a day to sit at our campsite and rest. With our time we were only able to explore a section of the far Northwest corner and the far Northeast corner.
This vast land is made of canyons, plateaus, dessert life, rivers, waterfalls, ancient ruins, and dinosaur bones.
GSENM is apart of the Grand Staircase, duh. A vast area of land that stretches South from Bryce Canyon to Zion to The Grand Canyon forming a sort of sequence of steps. GSENM encompasses several of these “steps” aka layers of sedimentary rock. Refer to the photo below for a visual or our last post.
A Very Brief History
This area has a treasure trove of dinosaur fossils that carbon date back 75 million years ago. When dinosaurs ruled the Earth this area of Utah was more swamp-like and a large ocean of water crossed what we now know as the Midwest. Fossils continue to be found
Humans settled the area around 500 AD. Fremont and ancestral Puebloan people called this area home. A combination of hunting, farming, and living in natural rock dwellings allowed them to successfully live in the harsh desert climate. Ruins and rock art can be found everywhere. We even found some unmarked petroglyphs on one of our hikes.
The first white settlers were, of course, the Mormons who came to Utah for more religious freedom and to build community. They passed through the area that makes up the monument, but really only settled near the Colorado River near Lake Powell.
Management
The Bureau of Land Management oversees the monument. This area is some of the most remote land in the lower U.S. and it was the last to be mapped in the contiguous U.S. Few if any roads cross this area. The roads that do are dirt and can be extremely difficult to drive on with out high clearance vehicles.
Controversy
Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument (GSENM) is a relatively new National Monument. It was designated in 1996 by President Bill Clinton who used his authority of the Antiquities Act. An act passed by congress that allows the President to create National Monuments from federal lands to protect significant natural, cultural, or scientific features.
Originally 1,880,461 acres of land was to be protected and making GSENM the largest national monument, but in 2017 President Trump ordered the monument’s size be reduced by almost half and that the remaining land be split into three areas. The now unprotected land is open to oil and mining companies. Conservationists, hunters, anglers, and outdoor re-creationists have filed lawsuits arguing the president has no legal authority to shrink National monuments.
Day 1
The areas in red circles is where we camped and hiked. We didn’t even make it to the Southern side. This place is just too big! Once inside the boundaries there are no amenities, no cell reception, and the roads are rough, even with our Jeep. Without proper preparation this place can be dangerous.
We needed a day of rest and we wanted to treat ourselves to a couple of drinks. We had to drive all over the place and almost made it back to Bryce, but luckily we found a gas station in the middle of nowhere that had a little booze section. And there was even a lady playing the piano outside. Random!
While inside the gas station we pondered our choices and found a couple of gems. Wasatch Brewery really gets into Utah’s Mormon history. Hilarious and blasphemous!
Ha! Satire 😉
Driving to our fist campsite. Dirt and rutted roads. Amazing landscape!
As long as it looks like someone has camped in a spot before you are welcome to camp there for free. The land and ecosystem is very fragile here, so please do no create your own campsite. There are plenty of spots right off the road that are obvious camp spots. Make sure to register in case of an emergency.
Day of Rest
Ahhhh… day of rest… and laundry!
The view from our campsite looked down into a Bull Valley Gorge. We could here hikers down below exploring. We spent the day relaxing, reading, and enjoying our malt liquor beverages from that gas station.
Day 2
Day Hike! Willis Creek is one of the more popular hikes of GSENM.
Hiking down to the creek. This trail is unmarked. Just follow the creek, but be careful there is a bit of water in it and flash floods can occur at anytime.
Less than 1/2 a mile into the hike the slot canyon begins.
At this point we are back on top of the canyon, but this was a neat spot to see the creek in action. The flowing water continues to carve away at the rock.
Neat!!
Layers, lines, and colors.
Back into the bottom of the canyon.
Echos!
Coming out of the slot canyon we were greeted by a huge pine tree. There is enough water in the creek that this one tree managed to get huge.
This is where we stopped. The Willis Creek Canyon ends with this open area and forms a sort of “T” intersection. You can continue to the left or right and connect with other canyons and creeks. We didn’t have a very good map and didn’t want to risk getting lost so we turned around and made our way back to the trail head.
Enjoyed walking next to water. Its seems like a rarity in the Southwest. The water really brings out the colors of the rocks.
Camrin to the rescue!! She spotted this poor bee struggling in the current of the water. She acted quickly and gave it a stick to latch onto.
Safe and sound! There’s a reason Camrin is nicknamed “Mamma Bear”. She’s always looking out for those around her, even the smallest of creatures.
Bonzai!
Hiking back through the slot canyons. We are so small in the grand scheme of things.
Hiking through sand and water gets boots dirty. Also, here’s a rare glimpse inside our Jeep. It’s organized chaos.
Driving to The Other Side
After our hike we made our way back to the visitor center to fill up on some water. The pressure was a bit uncontrollable and Laura got a bit of a surprise when filling the jug.
We traveled over to the Northeast side of the Monument. Just in time for sunset.
Wide open spaces! It kinda reminds us of the Australian outback.
Day 3
On this day we hiked to Zebra Canyon. All we had for maps was this cell phone pic of a topo map we saw in the visitor center. We didn’t realize how hard it would be to find the canyon.
There are lots of cool things you’d want to pick up, but please leave it be.
Oh yeah, the wind was ferocious today.
The start of the trail is easy to follow. It starts by crossing a field and then following a dried up creek bed.
Passing by an awesome landscape!
Art!
This is where things get tricky. The trail just kind of ends and we know from photos that we have to aim for one of those slits in the rocks on the right side, but it’s still confusing when you’re out there. Luckily we ran into other hikers who helped us on our way.
Zebra Canyon
A 5.3 mile out and back hike takes you to one the best slot canyons in the South West. Foot traffic can be fairly busy and with a narrow canyon traffic jams can occur. So be patient and friendly to your fellow hikers. Zebra Canyon is the perfect name because of the red and white stripping along the canyon walls. Be prepared to get your feet wet and bring rock climbing gear to explore further up the canyon beyond the damned up sections.
The start of the canyon has an icy cold puddle that has to be crossed. Laura pretty much ran through because that cold water stings!
Narrow!
Watch Camrin squeeze through. Haha!
Just Wow! The banding, the color. Created by water, wind, and time. Time and space feel relative when inside the canyon. Seriously, highlight of our whole trip!
Oh yeah, the canyon gets so narrow we ditched our packs to be able to fit. Unless you plan on climbing past the rock jam a little way up its a good idea to drop your pack. We didn’t picture it, but there were at least 6 other people in the canyon with us that we had to shuffle past. By the time we left,
Enjoying lunch in the warm sun near the entrance to the canyon.
Meeting the local wild life… eh, it might be dead.
After exploring the canyon we roamed the surrounding landscape. Not really on a trail, but not straying too far from it. A sea of red and white rock.
Ah yes, this is a cool rock feature. Its called a Concretion or Moqui Marble.
These are “sandstone balls cemented by a hard shell of iron oxide minerals.” Some areas of GSENM have fields blanketed with little round balls.
Looks like a mushroom!
The landscape of the Southwest must have been inspiration for Dr. Seuss.
What’s that?
Its a cattle fence. We were a little confused how to get through it on our way in. Just push.
Back up out of the lower creek bed. Cam is loving this place.
Back at the trail head parking area. A lot more vehicles have arrived.
Did we mention the wind was terrible? This was a few hours of wind. Little sand dunes forming on the windows of Tina.
Calf Creek Falls Area
After Zebra Canyon we drove over to the Calf Creek Falls area and camped a few miles away. We found a sweet spot between two trees.
Oh yeah, and we had an amazing view of the land below from our campsite.
Night time temperature dropping. Goodnight from Grand Staircase Escalante.
Day 4
The next morning we drove down to another trail head. The Calf Creek Falls. We weren’t expecting such a big crowd. Most likely because the road to this trail is a paved highway and easy to access. This was at 9am and the parking lot was almost full.
We couldn’t even get a photo with the sign 🙁
Lower Falls Trail
A rather flat and easy 5 1/2 mile out and back trail takes hikers to the lower falls of the calf creek. The lower falls are 126 feet in height and the upper falls are 88 feet. We only saw the lower falls. In the summertime, it makes a great swim hole and respite from the desert heat.
Remember to stay off the black crusty land. It’s a living creature!
The lasting effects from mining in the area. Only 2, eight
Let’s get this hike started!
Walk alongside a rock ledge just above a creek. Keep an eye out for petroglyphs. There are “life size” petroglyphs in the opposite side on a cliff wall. They were hard to photograph so we didn’t include them.
There really are trout in this water! We saw several small trout as we walked along the creek. Too small to be worth catching.
The falls are coming into view as we pass by patches of green grass.
Aww… look at us. A rare photo of us showing off being a couple.
We enjoyed lunch next to the waterfall and watched a man jump into the water. It was the middle of winter so water was freezing. He must have been from Wisconsin.
Hiking back to the trailhead.
Driving out to Capitol Reef National Park
We had to make a gas and grocery run so we said goodbye to GSENM and made our way to Capitol Reef NP where there are slightly larger towns.
Our view along the way. Utah is so so beautiful.
Our campsite just outside of Capital Reef. More about that in our next post.
Thanks for reading our blog! Up next… Capitol Reef National Park. We eat apple pie made in the park!
Did you read the long article in 10/1/2018 New Yorker magazine entitled “Food Fight?” A bit about restaurant in Boulder UT called Hell’s Backbone Grill but a lot about the politics of Grand Staircase-Escalante. I think you would appreciate it.
Jody in Cheyenne WY