Nearby Things to See & Do - Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks - page 109

Also look for birds, such as swallows, swifts, blue grouse, and golden eagles, and
watch for Clark's nutcrackers, with their gray torsos and black-and-white wings
and tails.
WINTER ACTIVITIES The monument's facilities are usually shut down from mid-
November to late May due to the thick blanket of snow that covers it. The snow-
blocked roads keep cars out, but they're perfect for snowmobilers, snowshoers,
and cross-country skiers, who usually come over from nearby Brian Head ski area.
Note that snowmobiles are restricted to the main 5-mile road through the monu-
ment, which is groomed and marked.
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
59 miles E of Bryce Canyon National Park (to the town of Escalante)
Covering almost 1.9 million acres, this vast area of red-orange canyons, mesas,
plateaus, and river valleys is known for its stark, rugged beauty. Operated by the
Bureau of Land Management (BLM), it contains a unique combination of geologic-
al, biological, paleontological, archaeological, and historical resources.
In announcing the creation of the monument from lands already under federal
control in 1996, former President Bill Clinton proclaimed, “This high, rugged, and
remote region was the last place in the continental United States to be mapped;
even today, this unspoiled natural area remains a frontier, a quality that greatly en-
hances the monument's value for scientific study.”
While hailed by environmentalists, the president's action was not popular in
Utah, largely because the area contains a great deal of coal and other valuable
resources. Utah Senator Orrin Hatch denounced Clinton's decree, calling it “the
mother of all land-grabs.”
Unlike most other national monuments, practically all of this vast area is unde-
veloped—there are few all-weather roads, only one maintained hiking trail, and
two developed campgrounds. But the adventurous will find miles upon miles of
dirt roads and what are called “hiking routes,” offering practically unlimited op-
portunities for hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking on existing dirt roads,
and camping.
The national monument can be divided into three distinct sections: The Grand
Staircase of sandstone cliffs, which includes five life zones, from Sonoran Desert to
coniferous forests, in the southwest; the KaiparowitsPlateau, a vast, wild region of
rugged mesas and steep canyons, in the center; and the EscalanteRiverCanyons