Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument & Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

Visited April 20-28, 2021

By Janell

 

Next stop after Zion National Park was Escalante, Utah. Marty, Minda & Cooper Rossman joined us here for a few days as well (as at Zion). Escalante, we just found out from an Escalante native, is pronounced Ess-kuh-lănt; we had been saying Ess-kuh-lawn-tay. 

That's how you can tell the tourists from the locals! 

Zion: it's Zai-un not Zai-on

Hurricane: it's Hurr-i-cun not Hurr-i-cane

Anyway, back to Escalante. It's a teeny town, but we did find three places to get a good bite (pizza, burgers and breakfast bagels). BUT don't try to get a bite before 2pm on Sunday! Some places were even closed ALL day Sunday. You'd better plan ahead and stock up on groceries! 

Speaking of groceries, we did visit the grocery store here, and it was quite small. I wonder if they're open on Sundays? 

Escalante, UT was established seven years after Livermore, CA

 

The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument was originally designated in 1996 as 1,880,461 acres of protected land in southern Utah. It is among the most remote in the country and was the last to be mapped in the contiguous United States. In 2017, the monument's size was reduced by half by presidential proclamation. Currently that reduction is hopefully in the works of being reversed.

The Grand Staircase is an immense sequence of sedimentary rock layers that stretch south from Bryce Canyon National Park and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, through Zion National Park, and into the Grand Canyon National Park.

 

He may look small here, but he was as big as me!

I think this may be a Great Basin Collared Lizard. He sits in front of the Bureau of Land Management's Escalante Interagency Visitor Center, which was right across the street from our campground. I think he's kind of cute, but I hope I never meet a live one his size!

Our first hike in the area was at Bryce Canyon National Park. Bryce Canyon, if you’ve not been before, is a sight to see! It’s really amazing! We’ve been twice before, and still seeing it again just makes one say “WOW”. We’ve hiked a bit in it before, but this time we went for a longer hike, about 6.5 miles. At an elevation of 7,640’, with a lot of ups and downs to the trail, it was breathtaking – and I mean that literally.

But it’s breathtakingly beautiful too. It’s filled with hoodoos and spires. The difference between hoodoos and spires is that hoodoos have a variable thickness like a totem pole. A spire has a more uniform thickness that tapers from the ground upward. Hoodoos can be as tall as a ten-story building!

We had fun looking at the hoodoos and seeing different things in them (much as someone might look at clouds). We saw a fire hydrant, an ice cream sundae, an angel, E.T.'s finger, several heads and faces, and more.

It was pretty cold when we started the hike.

Definitely hoodoos

Marty, Janell, Minda & Marty

What are the odds that next-door-neighbors would both be named Marty? (And FYI: Minda and I both share the same birthday, and the Martys' birthdays are only two days apart. Is that crazy, or what?!)

Looking down upon the switchbacks we just conquered! Trust me, it looks way easier than it is!

 

Cooper did not get to hike with us because it's a national park, but he did get to do this awesome photo shoot.

Lunch after the hike: "Could I puhhh-leeze have some cheese and crackers?"

 

 

 

 

Our second hike in the area, while also about 6.5 miles long, was to Calf Creek Falls and was much less challenging, physically. It had a bit of ups and downs but nothing compared to the day before at Bryce. Cooper got to join us on this one, and he had a grand time. 

The trail had several markers that corresponded to interesting notes on the page that Minda's reading to us.

 

  

 

 

 

We did this hike with our boys, Matt and Garrett when they were kids. It was summertime, and the falls and pool were much more enticing than today. I have a photo of the three of them standing bare-chested in the pool! This time, no one went in the water. We were happy to just look at the falls.

 

 

  

 

Claret Cup Cactus

 

 

 

Prickly Pear Cactus

 

 

 

Our final hike in this area was Bighorn Canyon Trail, another slot canyon. We had a beautiful day for it, although every once in a while a gust of wind crept up on us.

 

The wind took Marty's hat, and he had to climb up here to get it!

 

 

 

 

 Narrower and narrower . . .

 

 

 

 

Beyond Marty you can see a bunch of debris that had washed up there in a previous storm/flood. Seems to be a common occurrence in slot canyons.

 

 

A work of art, by Mother Nature

 

 

  

 

Our limited view of the sky

 

 

  

This golden color was so striking amidst all the red

  

How does this just happen?

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, on our hands and knees is how we had to get through this part. That stump was not movable!

 

 

This is supposed to keep cattle out but let hikers through. Needs some repair! At this point, I think even the cattle could figure out how to get through it.

 

 

 

 

This must be the smallest "liquor store" ever!

 

Well, we are in Utah after all. If you find beer in a grocery store here it will not be more than 5% alcohol content by volume (until Nov. 2019 it was only 4%). Beer that is higher than 5% ABV (and all other alcohol) will be sold only in Utah's state run liquor stores. So, this dinky little cage is a "state run liquor store" located within an outdoor gear store. It was so small and tucked away in the corner that it was easy to miss - despite the "Moonshine" sign up above.