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Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument occupies the largest land area of any National Monument at 1.9 million acres. It extends from Bryce Canyon National Park in the west to Capitol Reef National Park in the northeast, Glen Canyon in the east, and the Utah/Arizona border in the south. This section contains pages of scenery within the Grand Staircase Escalante and just outside the borders, including the Grosvenor Arch, Kodachrome Basin, Devil’s Garden, Peek-a-Boo Slot Canyon, Calf Creek Canyon, and some overlooks and scenery on Scenic Byway 12, which forms the northern border to the Grand Staircase Escalante NM.
The Escalante area is named for the Spanish Franciscan Missionary, Father Silvestre Velez de Escalante, who explored the region in 1776.
This page is an overview with selected images from each section page and display composites linked to the page below each group of images.
Click a preview image for a larger version. Use your back button to return to this page. Click a Display Composite to visit the page.
Grand Staircase Index
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Grosvenor Arch Kodachrome Basin Grand Staircase Scenic
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Devil’s Garden Calf Creek Canyon Peek-a-Boo Slot Canyon Grand Staircase Wildlife
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Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website. The Banner below leads to the Grand Staircase Escalante Collection where a Gallery can be selected.
There are 7 Galleries in the Photoshelter Grand Staircase Escalante Collection
Direct Links:
Grosvenor Arch Kodachrome Basin Grand Staircase Scenic Devil's Garden Calf Creek Canyon Grand Staircase Wildlife Peek-a-Boo Slot Canyon
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Grosvenor Arch
Grosvenor Arch is a spectacular double arch in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. Well out in the middle of nowhere, 10 miles down a dirt road from Kodachrome Basin, the 152 foot tall sandstone arch is one of the most magnificent spectacles in Utah’s Grand Staircase Escalante.
Grosvenor Arch 1029 (430 KB)
Grosvenor Arch, one of the most spectacular features in Grand Staircase Escalante, is an unusual double arch formed in a ridge of yellowish Henrieville Sandstone with darker Cedar Mountain and Dakota Formation sedimentary rock forming the capstone layer.
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Grosvenor Arch 6849 (481 KB)
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Grosvenor Arch Top Detail 1130 (596 KB)
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Grosvenor Arch 1048 (457 KB)
Grosvenor Arch from directly below, accented by feathery clouds in a polarized sky. Grosvenor Arch stands 152 feet over the path, and the span of the main arch is 100 feet across.
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Click the Display Composite above to visit the Grosvenor Arch page
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Kodachrome Basin State Park
Kodachrome Basin State Park is a spectacular area in Southern Utah near Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. Deep in the heart of Red Rock Country, Kodachrome Basin is famous for its spires and sandstone chimneys (called sand injectites or sedimentary pipes) which pierce the red-orange and creamy vanilla sandstone landscape, along with hoodoos, desert foliage and picturesque hiking trails.
Hoodoos Grand Parade Kodachrome Basin 1213 (647 KB)
A telephoto view of the Hoodoos in the Grand Parade area from Sentinel Trail.
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Ballerina Geyser Kodachrome Basin 1235 (328 KB)
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Shakespeare Arch Kodachrome Basin 1198 (594 KB)
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Sandstone Formation Kodachrome Basin 1180 (663 KB)
One of the sandstone pipes on the Sentinel Trail. The softer Entrada sandstone eroded away (some remaining Entrada sandstone can be seen in the lower front) to leave the harder cone-shaped intrusion. Several of this sort of sedimentary pipe can be seen in Kodachrome Basin.
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Click the Display Composite above to visit the Kodachrome Basin page
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Grand Staircase Scenic
GS Scenic displays images from Cannonville and Cottonwood Canyon Road in Paria Valley on the western side of Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, and from overlooks on Utah’s Scenic Byway 12, which skirts the northern border of the Grand Staircase Escalante. The area has spectacular vistas and some of the most unusual landscape in Color Country.
Cannonville Castle in the Air 0995 (530 KB)
The Castle in the Air near Cannonville, Utah is formed from the light tan to white, red-banded Cannonville Member of the Entrada Sandstone. This fine-grained sandstone and siltstone was laid down during the Jurassic period in flat beds, which are weakly cemented with gypsum.
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Head of the Rocks Grand Staircase 7094 (592 KB)
Head of the Rocks Overlook on Scenic Byway 12 provides a vast sprawling vista of the colorful slickrock of the Escalante.
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Calf Creek Canyon Hogback Grand Staircase 0819 (780 KB)
Calf Creek Canyon and Escalante Canyon from the Million Dollar Road traversing the Hogback near Boulder, Utah.
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Powell Point Blues Overlook 0987 (529 KB)
Table Cliff Plateau and Powell Point from Blues Overlook on Scenic Byway 12 in Grand Staircase. Powell Point was named for John Wesley Powell, the explorer who first navigated the Grand Canyon. He retraced his route in 1871-1872, and ascended to the Point in 1872 to get a better view of the area.
The spine of gray-green shale and the area between the Overlook and Powell Point is called the “Blues”.
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Click the Display Composite above to visit the Grand Staircase Scenic page
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Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website. The Banner below leads to the Grand Staircase Escalante Collection where a Gallery can be selected.
There are 7 Galleries in the Photoshelter Grand Staircase Escalante Collection
Direct Links:
Grosvenor Arch Kodachrome Basin Grand Staircase Scenic Devil's Garden Calf Creek Canyon Grand Staircase Wildlife Peek-a-Boo Slot Canyon
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Devil’s Garden
17 miles down Hole in the Rock Road, a 57 mile dirt track traversing Grand Staircase Escalante southeast from the town of Escalante to the Hole in the Rock at Lake Powell, is the Devil’s Garden. Devil’s Garden is a 10 acre area of petrified sand dunes and unusually shaped hoodoos, arches, and monoliths which offer one of the most interesting sights in the Grand Staircase Escalante.
Devil’s Garden Metate Arch Hoodoos 7040 (637 KB)
A view of Metate Arch, the Devil’s Heads or ‘goblins’, and the Amphitheater Hoodoos from atop the Mushroom formation to the left of Metate Arch, with the Straight Cliffs at top left.
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Devil’s Garden Devil’s Head 1624 (417 KB)
One of the Devil’s Heads or ‘goblin hoodoos’ at the end of the Devil’s Garden Amphitheater.
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Devil’s Garden Jay Leno Ronald Reagan 7064 (397 KB)
Some hoodoos can form whimsical caricatures such as Ronald Reagan (lower left) and Jay Leno.
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Devil’s Garden Mushroom Hoodoos 7023 (418 KB)
The Devil’s Garden Mushrooms framing a Gnarled Juniper across the Dry Wash.
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Click the Display Composite above to visit the Devil’s Garden page
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Calf Creek Canyon
Calf Creek Canyon Recreation Area is on Scenic Byway 12 between Escalante and Boulder. Calf Creek Canyon got its name when homesteaders weaned their calves in the box canyon and erected a fence across the narrowest part of the canyon, part of which can still be seen. Lush riparian vegetation surrounds Calf Creek on a trail between Navajo Sandstone cliffs, which leads to a 126 foot waterfall considered to be the most elegant in the Southwest.
Calf Creek Canyon 0891 (576 KB)
The Navajo Sandstone cliffs in the narrow box canyon area of Calf Creek Canyon.
This narrow section of the canyon, filled with lush vegetation around Calf Creek, was fenced in and used by early settlers to wean their calves, giving the canyon its name.
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Calf Creek Canyon Amphitheater 0869 (656 KB)
At the right edge of the arch in the left center of the wall at left are the group of three Amphitheater pictographs. The more famous group of Calf Creek Pictographs are shown at right.
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Fremont Pictographs Calf Creek Canyon 0877c (698 KB)
This pictograph dates from the period prior to 1000 AD, and depicts two warrior figures flanking a shaman figure, with a smaller shaman figure in a lined robe at the lower right.
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Lower Calf Creek Falls 0925 (372 KB)
Lower Calf Creek Falls is formed when Calf Creek plunges over a precipice, through a V-shaped notch in the Navajo Sandstone wall. It plunges straight down several feet onto a ledge, then springs out into space beyond an overhang gouged into the cliff face. The falls then cascade down the cliff into the emerald pool below. The white water of the falls contrast strongly with the reddish sandstone and blue and green algae that has taken hold on sections of the cliff nearest the water.
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Click the Display Composite above to visit the Calf Creek Canyon page
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Peek-a-Boo Slot Canyon
26.2 miles down Hole in the Rock Road, a lightly maintained dirt track leading southeast into Grand Staircase Escalante from the town of Escalante, is the Dry Fork Trailhead in Coyote Gulch. A few miles of scrambling over slickrock marked with cairns leads to Dry Fork Wash, a tributary of Coyote Gulch. Near the Dry Fork Narrows is the hanging slot canyon known as Peek-a-Boo.
Coyote Gulch Dry Fork Wash 1674 (876 KB)
Navajo Sandstone domes and cliffs in the Coyote Gulch area, and Dry Fork Wash at the bottom of the scene. At the lower left is the entrance to the Dry Fork Narrows, and at left center (angling up and left) is the narrow, hanging Peek-a-Boo slot canyon.
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Dry Fork Narrows Coyote Gulch 1685 (356 KB)
Dry Fork Narrows, upstream from Peek-a-Boo, was cut by the action of rushing water during flash floods in the area.
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Peek-a-Boo Slot Canyon Arch 1726 (321 KB)
The arch just inside the entrance to Peek-a-Boo, above which is the double pothole arch shown below.
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Peek-a-Boo Slot Canyon Arch 1719 (395 KB)
Shooting from the floor of the cavern at the top of the entrance arch and the double pothole arch.
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Click the Display Composite above to visit the Peek-a-Boo Slot Canyon page
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Llamas Loa Utah 1297 (441 KB)
Part of a herd of ranch llamas in Loa, Utah near Capitol Reef National Park.
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Sheep Boulder Mountain 0417 (1087 KB)
A profile closeup of a domestic sheep on Boulder Mountain.
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Paria Valley Cattle 6814 (791 KB)
A cow and her calf blocking Cottonwood Canyon Road.
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Llama Courtship Ritual Loa Utah XXL (812 KB)
A composite of 12 of the 14 shots taken during a llama mating ritual (Composite will open in a new window or tab)
The female approaches the male, sniffs his neck, bumps his chin, and they begin to neck-wrestle. The female nuzzles the males ear, then bites his neck. The male responds by nipping her on the leg. This begins an exchange of neck bites, during which the female seems to get the best of the encounter. The male mounts the female in a kush (laying) position. Once finished, she stands up and the male bows.
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Click the Display Composite above to visit the Grand Staircase Wildlife page
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Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website. The Banner below leads to the Grand Staircase Escalante Collection where a Gallery can be selected.
There are 7 Galleries in the Photoshelter Grand Staircase Escalante Collection
Direct Links:
Grosvenor Arch Kodachrome Basin Grand Staircase Scenic Devil's Garden Calf Creek Canyon Grand Staircase Wildlife Peek-a-Boo Slot Canyon
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Click the Display Composite above to return to the Southwest Index page
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