Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument

This 1.9 million acre monument is unique because it is administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) instead of the National Park Service. The BLM normally oversees mining and grazing rights, so it is unusual to see it managing a landscape suited for recreation and scientific study. There was quite a bit of controversy when the monument was created in 1996. Many of the locals were hoping the area would be developed into a mining operation that would create jobs in this area. Many locals were blindsided when President Clinton created the monument but scientists throughout the West were chopping at the bit to get into the area and see what it had to offer for scientific study. The area turned out to be a gold mine of ancient cultures and prehistoric beasts. Entire dinosaur skeletons, complete with skin, were discovered, along with numerous cultural sites.

Sitting between Bryce Canyon National Park and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Grand Staircase Escalante (GSE) is divided into three distinct regions: the Grand Staircase, the Kaiparowits Plateau and the Canyons of the Escalante. The Grand Staircase in the southwest portion of the monument spans five different zones from high desert to coniferous forests in great geologic steps or terraces. It is here that some of the best dinosaur specimens in the world have been found. The Kaiparowits Plateau is a huge wedge shaped block of mesas and deep canyons that comprises the middle portion of the monument. Many sites of prehistoric cultures have been recorded on the plateau and many more are preserved for future scientific study. The western section, the Canyons of the Escalante, is a winding 1,000 mile maze of interconnected canyons. It is here that we explored some slot canyons.

It’s hard to talk about the scenery across southern Utah and Colorado and northern Arizona and New Mexico without some background. Bruce Canyon’s brochure said it best. “For 60 million years a great seaway extended from the Gulf of Mexico to the upper reaches of western Canada. It deposited sediments of different thickness and composition as it repeatedly invaded, retreated, than re-invaded the region.” It is these sediments that are now exposed as the deepest layers in most of the canyons of the region. About 40 million years ago rivers and streams flowing from surrounding highlands left iron-rich sediments on top of this ancient lakebed. “Ten million years ago the Earth ripped apart and these sections of land rose thousands of feet, forming the Colorado Plateau. Now these two distinct layers of ancient sediment sat next to each other.” Flash forward through millions of years of flash floods and wind and you’ll see the effects of differential erosion. The weaker layers erode first and strange rock formations known as spires, hoodoos, and canyons form. (Hoodoos are spires that have a larger, harder rock at the top.) dave and I often looked at these features and remarked how it seemed like the whole landscape could be created within our lifetime. It was easy to see how a little water and time could create the formations. But the truth of the manner was what we were looking at took more time than we could conceive of to evolve! It took us awhile to grasp it. We spent four to five days in GSE but it wasn’t enough. I don’t know it could ever be enough. A lifetime would never been enough. We were jealous of the people who knew this area well, knew water source locations and had hiked extensively through it. The area is vast and around each corner something totally new and exciting presented itself.

Here are a few photos of these neat rock formations:

dave and Dogs on A Hoodoo

jody and Dogs Near Hoodo

Hoodoo Close Up

Grosvenor Arch

jody and the Dogs at Devils Garden

More Devils Garden Scenery

The last thing we did before leaving GSE was check out a few slot canyons. The road leading to the slot canyons, Hole in the Rock Trail, has a fair amount of history. In 1878 to 1880 a group of over 200 people set out on this trail to create a Mormon settlement in the four corners area. The narrow slit in the 2,000 foot cliff, the Hole in the Rock, proved to be one of the most difficult portions of the trail. The arduous journey averaged only 1.7 miles a day due to horrendous problems they continually encountered. The journey was expected to take six weeks but after six months they could continue no more. The resulting settlement overlooking the San Juan River was named Bluff City.

Slot canyons like so much of the scenery around these parts were created by water. Funny … we’re in the desert and there is hardly any water anywhere but everywhere you look the landscape has been imprinted by it. Water has left its mark in every nook and cranny. Slot canyons, extremely narrow canyons, may be the neatest formation created in the whole southwest. We got a very early start to beat the heat and the people. As a result we had them to ourselves.

In Spooky Canyon we started out by walking normally. Then we had to turn sideways the get through its narrow confines. After a short time it got to the point where the top half of our body was leaning one way and the bottom half was leaning the other in order to make forward progress. Neither one of us is prone to claustrophobia but there came a point I had to retreat. I couldn’t stop thinking about getting stuck. After a quick break we went back for more but we’re stopped in our tracks by a snake that wouldn’t budge. Poisonous or not (it wasn’t) we didn’t want to tango with a reptile in the narrow confines of Spooky. We turned around before it got even tighter. Still it was a thrill to experience it. The video does a lot better justice then these photos but I can’t figure out how to get video onto this blog. (Anybody know?)

dave in Spooky

jody in Spooky

Lizard in Spooky

Snake in Spooky

Peek-A-Boo Canyon was a little bit different. It wasn’t nearly as narrow but much more twisty and we had to scramble to get into it. The entrance was about 12 feet higher than the wash bottom.

jody Entering Peek-A-Boo

dave in Peek-A-Boo

On the hike out we checked out the headwaters of this wash, Dry Fork Gulch Narrows. While not as narrow as a slot canyon it had sheer walls that extended about 35 feet up.

dave in Dry Fork Gulch Narrows

The BLM, like the Forest Service, has a policy of allowing dispersed camping outside campgrounds. In GSE you were required to get a free dispersed camping permit, but it was easy to get from any number of places. We took advantage of this policy and got some of the best campsites in awhile. It has been common on this trip to only officially shower once a week, sponge bathing in between. Not bad if the weather is cooler but since the warmer temperatures arrived and we’ve increased our activity level the sweat started flowing and we felt we need to remedy our showering schedule. Thank goodness our friend Kari had given us the solar shower. With readily available water at any visitor center we keep it full and the sun kept it hot. We were indulging in hot showers a couple times a week. Now granted it was only four gallons each time, split between two people, but boy did it make a difference in our moral. It has gotten to the point that we are proud of our showering set up. Take a closer look at this photo below. Don’t worry you’ll see something of dave’s – you won’t. Instead look at our lovely view and our even lovelier tiled shower floor!!

Campsite Shower