See the dust cloud disappear without a trace…

Located on the Colorado Plateau in southern Utah, the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument encompasses 1.9 million acres of undeveloped canyons, plateaus, and rock formations. For us, it all started when our mapping software plotted our trip to include a road that showed up in red with a big warning: impassable when wet and do not drive this road after dark (or something to that effect). That alone piqued our curiosity.

A little more research told us that Cottonwood Road was a 46 mile stretch of unpaved road that cut across the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and could usually be driven with a 2-wheel drive vehicle—usually. We had trouble finding as much information as we would have liked since the Bureau of Land Management website was down (and still is) due to “matters of national security,” whatever that means. What we found wildly exceeded our expectations.

It’s hard for me to pin down a favorite part of our trip, but this was certainly the most unexpected gem. It was incredible. You could look to your right and see rounded gray hills, then turn to the left and be face to face with red and white cliffs. And it was almost completely untouched by man. Save for the powerlines stretching across the landscape and one or two outhouses, the area was utterly desolate. It was an amazing feeling, being there. And as we now know, we barely even scratched the surface of the Grand Staircase. I’m hooked. And I’m definitely going back.

Approaching Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, UT

Approaching the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, UT

Entering Cottonwood Road, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, UT

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, UT

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, UT

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, UT

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, UT

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, UT

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, UT

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, UT

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, UT

Part of the Coxcomb Formation, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, UT

Approaching Grosvenor Arch, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, UT. We parked the car and hiked up to the formation.

Part of the Grosvenor Arch Formation

Grosvenor Arch, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, UT

Grosvenor Arch, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, UT

A view of our car as we walked back from Grosvenor Arch. See how isolated we were?

MOO! At a certain point we were faced with this in the middle of the road. We had to scare away the cows and then plow through the water. There was an alternate way, but it also had cows and water!

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, UT

This is what the car looked about 3/4 of the way through.

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