Grand Staircase Escalante

The Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, which President Biden recently restored to the original boundaries, is an enormous 1.7 million acres. It was also the last area in the continental US to be mapped in the late 1800s.

We came in from the north side. When we left Capitol Reef NP we headed south on beautiful UT 12. This road climbs to 9,500 feet as it skirts the side of the 11,300' Boulder Mountain. We stayed at Singletree Campground at 8,100 feet one night, then headed toward Boulder, UT. This section of road had scenery that went on forever - even when we were looking into the sun and there were clouds from rain the night before. The aspen trees were already golden in several areas.

Overlook crossing Boulder Mountain in Utah

In addition to the slow climb up the mountain, we were delayed by numerous cows just standing in the road. It's open range, but it's so steep the cattle just follow the road up and down and often stand in it, drinking water from the depressed rumble strip divider. We had to completely stop several times and slow way down many others. 

When we arrived in Boulder, we turned onto the Burr Trail Road and entered the national monument. Highway 12 was beautiful, but Burr Trail Road topped it for scenic beauty. We went in for about 24 of the 30 paved miles, then drove back out - it was stunning in both directions.

Burr Trail through Long Canyon

In Long Canyon

Along Burr Trail

We stopped at singing canyon, which has amazing acoustics. I wish I had brought my saxophone.

Singing Canyon

We intended to hike Lower Calf Creek Falls on our way to Escalante, but another round of monsoon storms started rolling through. Instead, we headed to our campsite at Escalante Petrified Forest State Park. We took their 2-mile hike and saw a lot of petrified wood. The lake next to our campsite was very low, attesting to the drought conditions in the west - and despite the heavy monsoon rains the past couple of days. 

The next morning, we got up early and headed back to Lower Calf Creek. It was clear and 48ºF when we started the hike and clear and 71ºF when we returned about 3.5 hours later. It was a 6.5 mile RT hike to the end of a box canyon where a 130' waterfall spills over.  There was a wild turkey mooching snacks from a couple of other people who were there when we arrived, but it quickly fled when it saw Bebop. We hung out at the falls for about 45 minutes. The entire hike is nice and has only 200' of elevation gain.

Hike to Lower Calf Creek Falls

At  Lower Calf Creek Falls

Then we had to make a decision about the next morning. We really wanted to hike to the Inselberg Pit, which is the largest cylindrical sandstone weathering pit on Earth. It's also called the Cosmic Navel. The hike isn't too bad - about 9 miles and 800' of elevation gain, but the road to the trailhead is a 7-mile gravel/sand road. There is no cell service and our van doesn't have a spare tire. With the chance of rain remaining high, we had extra concerns about trying to make it out there. Our plan was to boondock at the trailhead and hike out early Sunday morning. It's Sat afternoon, and we're still deciding - a flash flood warning just popped up on my phone, but the rain is staying just northeast of us for now. We'll probably save the Inselberg Pit for another day. Here's one of those storms in the distance.

That storm just missed us earlier

- Paul