Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
pared to get wet up to your knees. The easy 2-mile (one-way) hike begins at a park-
ing area off Utah 12 at the bridge that crosses the Escalante River near Calf Creek
Recreation Area, 15 miles northeast of the town of Escalante. From the parking
area, hike upstream to Escalante Natural Bridge, on the south side of the river. The
stone bridge is 130 feet high and spans 100 feet.
Also starting at the Utah 12 bridge parking area is a hike downstream to Phipps
Wash. Mostly moderate, this hike goes about 1.5 miles to the mouth of Phipps
Wash, which enters the river from the west. You'll find Maverick Natural Bridge
at the north side drainage of Phipps Wash, and climbing up the drainage on the
south side leads to Phipps Arch.
Hiking the national monument's slotcanyons is very popular, but we can't over-
emphasize the importance of checking on flood potentials before starting out. A
sudden rainstorm, even one that's miles away, can cause a flash flood through a
narrow canyon, trapping hikers.
One challenging and very strenuous slot-canyon hike is through Peek-a-boo and
Spookycanyons, which are accessible from the Hole-in-the-Rock Scenic Backway.
(See “Sightseeing & Four-Wheeling,” below.) Stop at the Escalante Interagency Of-
fice for precise directions.
Impressions
These cliffs are bold escarpments, hundreds and thousands of feet in altitude—grand steps by
which the region is terraced.
—Maj. John Wesley Powell,1880
SIGHTSEEING&FOUR-WHEELING Because it is one of America's least-developed sec-
tions of public land, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument offers a won-
derful opportunity for exploration by the adventurous. Be aware, though, that the
dirt roads inside the monument turn muddy—and impassable—when it rains.
One particularly popular road is the Hole-in-the-RockScenicBackway, which
is partly in the national monument and partly in the adjacent Glen Canyon Nation-
al Recreation Area. Like most roads in the monument, driving this route should
be attempted in dry weather only. Starting about 5 miles northeast of Escalante of
Utah 12, this clearly marked dirt road travels 57 miles (one-way) to the Hole-in-the-
Rock, where Mormon settlers, in 1880, cut a passage through solid rock to get their
wagons down a 1,200-foot cliff to the canyon floor and Colorado River below.
About 12 miles in, you'll encounter the sign for the Devil's Rock Garden, an
area of classic red rock formations and arches, where you'll also find a picnic area
(about a mile of the main road). The road continues across a plateau of typical
desert terrain, ending at a spectacular scenic overlook of Lake Powell. The first 35
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