Staring At A Staircase

Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument occupies nearly 1.9 MILLION acres! It is some of the most remote land in the country, and was the last area to be mapped in the contiguous states.

Al and I had traveled through here back in December 2019 (the first three pictures below), but it was only to go between Capitol Reef and Bryce Canyon National Parks, of which those 123 miles along Highway 12 are some of the most visually stunning I have ever driven. Back then, I said we needed, and I did mean NEEDED, to come back and explore the Grand Staircase. The area near the “Hogback”, a few ess-curves with drop-offs on both sides, wasn’t all that scary in snowy December, and it wasn’t so bad driving it in our motorhome in windy October. Stop at each and every pull-off if you can... and plan on the 2-hour drive taking 5 full hours to allow soaking in the views. Now after staying here, I’m saying we need to come back again, again! I adore this area, but have barely seen much of it.

We stayed on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land, just off Hole in the Rock Road, maybe five miles from the town of Escalante. We chose to stay here the full 14-day limit to, among many other things, experience the 2023 Annular Eclipse. There are a couple dumpsters provided near the entrance, albeit plastered with stickers from proud visitors. With one exception, all of the sites we explored were largely free of litter, very little broken glass here or there, but since there are no vault toilets at this location, we did see toilet paper around several of the shrubs, and I assumed it was used, so we did not pick it up. A dump station and fresh water are available 8 miles west at the entrance of Escalante Petrified Forest State Park for a fee of $15. We socialized with people from Arizona, Montana, Washington, New Hampshire, and Switzerland... many coming for the eclipse. It was bustling during most of our stay, especially leading up to the weekend, but that Sunday, it cleared out considerably.

There are several other dispersed camping opportunities throughout the 60-mile drive to Hole in the Rock, but the washboarded and occasionally large-rock-outcropped road would make for a very slow and long drive in a motorhome, not to mention it would likely be severely damaged if going past the halfway point. There are many hikeable slot canyons, rock formations, and wilderness trails along the way, of which we only did a few. That gives reason why we must come back again!

With a mere population of around 800, Escalante has many conveniences, such as a few fuel stations, restaurants, the Interagency Visitor Center, and a wayside rest area with a covered wagon on display, but no laundromat that we could find. I still felt it was a clean and very friendly little town. As curmudgeonly as I am, it says a lot that I enjoyed going there.

The Interagency Visitor Center in Escalante will suggest a few hikes, but to me only gives out seemingly limited or vague information. I understand that some things should be protected from hordes of people defacing or ruining them. I have discovered some resources about petroglyphs, pictographs, and other interesting things that most will never see. If you’d like to send us an email, we may be willing to share some of that information if we know your intentions are to observe, preserve and protect. When we come back, we may consider finding a new campsite near Tropic, Cannonville, Kanab, or Page to explore new parts of the national monument, but I would definitely consider coming back to the Hole in the Rock Road area again. There is just so much to see and discover around here, but at the same time, so few people you’ll encounter. It makes places like this so very much more special.

Today, we traveled from the Pacific coast to the desert, and boy was it a windy drive. It was neat seeing all of the windmills, but I didn’t take my eyes off the road all that much, as steering corrections were constant to keep from blowing into the next lane. I’m not fond of interstate driving in the first place, but add in that we were in the second most populous metropolitan area in our country, I think it wasn’t as bad in a motorhome as I contemplated.

Moments after pulling off of the interstate, we pulled into the dispersed BLM camping area, started checking out available sites, and I sensed I might be in trouble. I went to turn the motorhome around felt the drive tires spin and the rear drop every so little. I got on the radio and told Al to check it out, and all four tires had sunk into the sand. He got out the shovel and cleared the way, but before we moved it, we drove around scouting for a level site. We came back, and with a little finesse, it scooched back and forth enough to get it turned around and on to our current site. The winds are still rocking the motorhome this evening, but we’ve been in worse. I’m looking forward to tomorrow as we will be playing tourists with Mason as our guide, that is, if I get off the computer and try getting some rest.

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