Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, National Monument in southern Utah, United States.
The monument encompasses 1.9 million acres of cliffs, plateaus, and canyons divided into three regions: Grand Staircase, Kaiparowits Plateau, and Escalante Canyons.
President Bill Clinton established this monument in 1996, marking the final area of the contiguous United States to receive complete geographical mapping.
Ancient Puebloan and Fremont communities left evidence of their presence through rock art panels, granaries, and archaeological sites across the monument lands.
Visitors need permits for overnight camping, available at visitor centers and developed trailheads, with both primitive sites and modern campgrounds throughout the area.
The monument contains five distinct sets of cliffs: Pink, Grey, White, Vermillion, and Chocolate, forming natural geological steps from Bryce Canyon to Grand Canyon.
Location: Kane County
Location: Garfield County
Inception: September 18, 1996
Operator: Bureau of Land Management
GPS coordinates: 37.40000,-111.68333
Latest update: July 1, 2025 18:09
These botanical gardens are research centers with greenhouses, plant collections and exhibitions. They maintain native and exotic plant species in designed gardens. The grounds present different climate zones with corresponding vegetation, from tropical rainforests to desert plants. Visitors find scientific information about botany.
The southwestern United States encompasses desert landscapes, sandstone formations and archaeological sites from several pre-Columbian cultures. The region spans Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado, featuring geological structures shaped over millions of years by wind and water erosion. National parks such as Canyonlands and Capitol Reef display canyons, mesas and rock spires in shades of red, orange and ochre. The area preserves evidence of the Ancestral Puebloans, who built cliff dwellings and communal structures between the 12th and 14th centuries. Sites like Bandelier National Monument and Gila Cliff Dwellings provide access to these habitations. Chaco Culture National Historical Park documents a pre-Hispanic trading center with multistory stone complexes. Petroglyphs at locations such as Three Rivers and the petrified trees of Petrified Forest National Park offer additional historical records. The Navajo Nation administers Monument Valley and the Navajo Zoo, while Hubbell Trading Post operates as a functioning 19th-century trading post. Volcanic features mark Sunset Crater and El Malpais, while White Sands covers more than 275 square miles (700 square kilometers) of gypsum dunes. Glen Canyon and the man-made Lake Cochiti provide water access in this largely arid region. Elevation differences range from the Organ Pipe Cactus Desert to Great Basin National Park with its ridges above 13,000 feet (3,900 meters).
Buckskin Gulch
47.2 km
Kodachrome Basin State Park
30.6 km
Kaiparowits Formation
24.8 km
Devils Garden
31.2 km
Hole in the Rock Trail
38.8 km
Escalante Petrified Forest State Park
44 km
Wahweap Formation
11.2 km
Grosvenor Arch
14.6 km
Bryce Canyon
47.2 km
Harris Wash
47.9 km
Cookie Jar Butte
48.2 km
Toadstool Hoodoos
36.5 km
Cottonwood Canyon
17.8 km
Metate Arch
31.6 km
Cosmic Ashtray
45.2 km
Tropic Ditch Falls
48.2 km
Peekaboo Loop Trail
48.2 km
Edmaier's Secret
48.2 km
Paria Rimrocks Toadstool Hoodoos
36.5 km
Hat Shop
46 km
Calf Creek
47.9 km
Straight Cliffs
43.5 km
Water Canyon
47.9 km
Bryce Point Overlook
47.6 km
Paria View Overlook
48.2 km
Escalante Natural Bridge
46.5 km
Wahweap Hoodoos trail
28.4 km
Mano Arch
31.6 kmReviews
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