Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument — Attraction in Four Corners States

Currently I am a huge fan of Escalante, but I think it takes a certain mindset to enjoy it to its fullest. First you want to go when it is not hot. The heat will take all the fun out of this area. Second realize that this is a roughing it adventure so you have to bring in your own food. The only restaurant is over an hour away and it is only a Subway. Third realize that you need a 4x4 vehicle to really enjoy this place for many of the road to get to the cool places get rough in spots. Fourth realize that camping in a tent or in the back of your car is really the best way to go. The hotels (which are not deluxe) are so far away over washboard roads that if you can tough out a night in the back of your car or in a tent you'd be smart. Most the most highly rated hikes are down Hole in the Rock road. (Zebra, Tunnel, Neon, Peek a Boo, Spooky Gulch, Devil's Garden, Grosvenor Arch, Hole in the Rock) which is ok but not one you want to travel an hour in each direction too many times to get to a hotel. What is great about the park though, is that if you can find a pull off ( which there are quite a few) you can park and camp for free anywhere you would like. This makes for a super affordable trip, with awesome adventures. Just go prepared. Drop pins where you car is at on your phone, use a compass, watch those Carins, don't go into any scary slots without a buddy, make sure you let someone not with you know where you will be each day, a GPS device would be super smart for most instructions give GOS corridinates, make sure you take in plenty of food and water, take in ropes and Webbing, realize you will have no cell service so do your research before you go, I would also buy a heated thermos that plugs into your car for the trip. That way you can easily use your car to make oatmeal, coffee, hot chocolate, cup of noodles, warm up soup and have a hot meal with...

We loved our visit. It was over Memorial Day weekend but wasn't as busy as I expected. We ended up staying at Calf Creek Campground because we got lucky and got a spot, but there is also plenty of BLM dispersed camping available if you know where to look.

No fee is charged to see the sights in the Monument, but services are limited. I didn't see any trash services or vault toilets at trailheads. Plan accordingly. Bring lots of water and plan on hiking in sand. Every hike we did had lots of sand. Water shoes would be smart for several of the hikes also. Boulder and Escalante are both fairly close if you need to go into town to get supplies.

The dirt road to Zebra and Tunnel slot is 2WD accessible but has pretty bad washboards. We were originally going to hike Golden Cathedral but didnt want to endure another hour on that road to get to the trailhead. Maybe another time with a better vehicle.

I highly recommend the Escalante River trail to the natural bridge. It is beautiful. Every trail we went one was dog friendly. Campground was too, on leash. There are several hikes we still want to do when we have more time. We will visit this monument again.

We had (T-Mobile/Mint) cell service whenever we were up on top but never down in the canyon (roughly between Head of the Rocks overlook and...

A great place to get away from it all, and by that I mean literally. Unlike many of the other National Parks or Monuments, Grand Staircase has not been built up in the same way. That means while this is not the place to visit for driving around to make quick jaunts from the car to look at things, this is a perfect place to get away from civilization. There are a plethora of trails, and at times you (or your group) may be the only ones around, so plan accordingly, but take advantage of the opportunity to reconnect with nature. Permits aren't required, and group sizes are limited to 10 people without special permission. It's still a good idea to check in at the Grand Staircase visitor center to get information about trail and water conditions, and to check in with the Rangers to let them know where you'll be and for how long. Just a forewarning, though, some of the roads you'll need to take to get to certain trailheads are best driven using an all wheel drive or four wheel drive vehicle, particularly with reasonably good ground clearance. The roads are often just graded dirt roads, with varying conditions depending on when they were graded. Don't be too dissuaded if you don't have a truck or SUV though, I drove in with a Prius, you just need to take it slow and mind the rocks,...