Escalante National Monument
The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument spans 1.7 million acres and stands out on any map of the state of Utah. It is an excellent representation of geology, as it contains an immense assortment of formations and magnificent paleontological sites. Consisting of multicolored cliffs, plateaus, mesas, buttes, pinnacles, and canyons, the Monument is is sectioned into three separate areas: the Grand Staircase, the Kaiparowits Plateau, and the Canyons of the Escalante.
The tiers of the Grant Staircase rise in wide, sloping platforms, vivid and impressive. These platforms transform into cliffs from the south, and consist of colors ranging from vermilion to white, from gray to pink. These cliffs contain several fossils of fish and triassic dinosaurs, as well as jurassic sand, shoal, and examples of ancient marine life such as sea shells and shark's teeth.
The Kaiparowits Plateau is the highest part of the Monument. It encompasses 800,000-plus acres and forms the driest, most brutal, and most isolated part of the Monument. The rocks of the Kaiparowits contain an exceptional collection of fossils from the cretaceous period. The plateau itself is a maze of canyons with few, scattered, water sources. Visitors will also encounter vast cliffs and the red hills for which southern Utah has become famous.
The Canyons of the Escalante is the collective title for many landforms created by the Escalante River. Some of the most notable features of this section of the Monument include sweeping vertical canyon walls, water pockets, slot canyons, domes, pedestals, arches, and naturally occurring bridges. Among the beautiful and picturesque geological elements are Stevens Arch (located near the mouth of Coyote Gulch), Neon Canyon, Broken Bow Arch, and the Devil's Garden Hoodoos.
The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is accessible by Highway 89 from the Kanab / Big Water area and Highway 12 from the Escalante / Boulder area.
