At the beginning of September, CNN Travel published a list of “25 of the USA’s most underrated destinations.” Not long after, Caitlin Keith, an intern for Deseret News, pointed out that Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument was among them. What CNN Travel and Deseret News both forgot to mention, however, is that there’s a reason the monument is underrated.
Grand Staircase is a beautiful place to recreate if you know how to really rough it: drive narrow, washboarded dirt roads; backpack carrying everything in and out; and avoid dangerous weather conditions such as flash floods or excessive heat. It’s not the underrated — but heavily facilitated — recreation experience you might expect from a small national park, for instance. And the bigger news agencies get that a little bit wrong sometimes.
A simple Google search for “Grand Staircase” yields pictures of gorgeous slick slot canyons and deep ravines, and, of course, the Jacob Hamblin arch. (Did you know the arch is not actually in the monument?)
VisitUtah used to call the Grand Staircase “vast and rugged, but easily accessible.” Now the page is sprinkled with disclaimers about dirt roads and backcountry. BLM carefully describes it as a place for “quiet recreation and solitude,” with recreation more as an afterthought.
I have personally enjoyed the many recreational opportunities the monument has to offer, mostly in the bumpy back seat of the four-wheel drive Ford Excursion that my dad likes to use for off-roading. He drives those curvy, washboarded backcountry roads like he was born doing it, and for us kids, it’s all part of the experience.
We have enjoyed places like Willis Creek, Grosvenor Arch, Hackberry Canyon, and Spooky Gulch. The slot canyons are truly unique, and they are often the only place to get a little shade in the middle of summer. The sand and slick rock trails are marked only by cairns, if you know where to look, which can lead to a lot of bushwhacking sometimes. It’s fun!
So, the answer is, yes, the Grand Staircase is a really cool place to recreate, and you can do it if you know how. But it’s not an easy place to recreate, which is probably why, as CNN Travel astutely observed, the Grand Staircase is still underrated for your general traveler.
– by Abbie Call
Feature image caption: Grosvenor Arch in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
Abbie Call – Cannonville/Kirksville, Missouri
Abbie Call is a journalist and editor at The Byway. She graduated in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in editing and publishing from Brigham Young University. Her favorite topics to write about include anything local, Utah’s megadrought, and mental health and meaning in life. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hanging out with family, quilting and hiking.
Find Abbie on Threads @abbieb.call or contact her at [email protected].