Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

For thirty years Grand Staircase-Escalante covered nearly 1.9 million acres of southern Utah, from the cliffs of the Grand Staircase to the canyons of the Escalante River. A presidential proclamation in July 2026 cut it by about 90 percent, leaving roughly 180,000 acres in two units: the Canyons of the Escalante, including the Escalante River and Calf Creek Canyon, and a small paleontological unit on the Kaiparowits Plateau. The cut is being challenged in court, and the boundaries may change again.

For visitors, the land removed from the monument is still public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, and the famous places are still there. Lower Calf Creek Falls, a six-mile round trip to a 126-foot waterfall in a sandstone alcove, remains inside the monument. Hole-in-the-Rock Road leads to the slot canyons of Peekaboo, Spooky and Zebra and to Devils Garden, a field of hoodoos and arches. Cottonwood Canyon Road and Johnson Canyon lead through the colored cliffs of the Grand Staircase itself.

This is country for prepared travelers. Roads are long and unpaved, cell service is spotty, and summer heat and flash floods are real dangers. In return you get canyons where you may not see another person all day.