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Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument encompasses a vast section of land
in south central Utah, part of which is so remote that it was some of the last land to be
explored and mapped in the United States. The multi-hued cliffs and expansive plateaus
share the landscape with narrow, twisting canyons through Utah’s sandstone wilderness.
This page displays images from Cannonville and Cottonwood Canyon Road in Paria Valley
on the northwest 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.
This area offers spectacular vistas and some of the most unusual landscape in Color Country.
Utah’s Scenic Byway 12 is designated an All American Road, one of 31 roads in the USA
which are considered the most unique roads in the country and a destination by themselves.
Click an image to open a larger version.
Use your back button to return to this 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 Link to the Grand Staircase Scenic gallery:
Grand Staircase Scenic
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Cannonville Bluffs 0994
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Bluffs near the Paria River in Cannonville, displaying the tan and red-banded Cannonville Member of Entrada Sandstone.
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Cannonville Castle in the Air 0997
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The Castle in the Air formation near Cannonville, eroded from light tan to white, red-banded Cannonville Entrada Sandstone.
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Cannonville Castle in the Air 0995
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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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Cannonville Landscape 1254
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Cannonville landscape with a Shepherd’s Log Cabin in the central distance in front of pink and tan sandstone cliffs.
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Cannonville Shepherds Cabin 1256
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Detail of a Shepherd’s Log Cabin in front of a spectacular desert landscape south of Cannonville, Utah.
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Cannonville Landscape 1258-59
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A two shot landscape panorama taken from just beyond the Log Cabin south of Cannonville, Utah.
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Cottonwood Canyon Road Paria Valley 1179
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Cottonwood Canyon Road is a 47 mile dirt road traversing Grand Staircase Escalante east and south from Kodachrome Basin. When folks speak of a road to the middle of nowhere...
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Uranium in Sandstone Grand Staircase 1177
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An exposed section of Shinarump Member Chinle sandstone with bands of uranium ore alongside the Cottonwood Canyon Road between Grosvenor Arch and Kodachrome Basin.
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Paria Valley Cattle 6814
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A cow and her calf blocking Cottonwood Canyon Road across the nearly dried-out Paria River near Grosvenor Arch.
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Paria Valley Cattle 6816
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The cow seemed to be obsessed with licking her nose (or maybe she is tasting the fragrant scents in the air).
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Paria Valley Coxcomb Grand Staircase 6823
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Entrada Sandstone cliffs in the Paria Valley, from a high spot on Cottonwood Canyon Road.
The upturned strata in this area is part of a geological formation known as the Coxcomb.
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Paria Valley Coxcomb Grand Staircase 1018
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From this high spot on Cottonwood Canyon Road, you can get a view of Entrada Sandstone cliffs in the Coxcomb area.
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Paria Valley Coxcomb Grand Staircase 6821
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The image above shows a wider view of the same part of the Paria River Valley, with the Entrada Sandstone cliffs at right.
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Storm over the Coxcomb Grand Staircase 6898
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On the way back from Grosvenor Arch, a storm enters the area near Kodachrome Basin.
We had to hurry out of the area, because even in a Land Rover, Cottonwood Canyon Road
is impassable during and after a rainstorm (you need an Abrams Tank or a tracked vehicle).
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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 Link to the Grand Staircase Scenic gallery:
Grand Staircase Scenic
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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”.
Below are views of Powell Point taken at mid-afternoon, early morning and mid-morning.
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Powell Point Blues Overlook 0990
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Detail of the Pink Cliffs at Powell Point from Blues Overlook.
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Powell Point Blues Overlook 0991
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A wider view of Powell Point, mid-afternoon in September.
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Powell Point Blues Overlook 1598
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The Pink Cliffs of Powell Point in the early morning.
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Powell Point Blues Overlook 1597
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A wider view of Powell Point early on a September morning.
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Powell Point Blues Overlook 1602
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Table Cliff Plateau and Powell Point from just beyond Blues Overlook in the early morning.
Powell Point at 10,188 feet offers spectacular views of Southern Utah as far as the Grand Canyon.
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Powell Point Blues Overlook 6963
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Pink Cliffs of Powell Point, mid-morning from Blues Overlook.
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Powell Point Blues Overlook 6966
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A wider view of Powell Point, mid-morning in August.
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Powell Point Blues Overlook 6972
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Table Cliff Plateau and Powell Point from just beyond Blues Overlook at mid-morning in August.
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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 Link to the Grand Staircase Scenic gallery:
Grand Staircase Scenic
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Boynton Overlook Grand Staircase 0801
(441 KB)
A precipitous sandstone cliff to the right of Boynton Overlook on Scenic Byway 12 provides views of Escalante Canyon.
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Boynton Overlook Grand Staircase 0809
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A sandstone Chimney in Escalante Canyon, near the Boynton Overlook on Scenic Byway 12, which skirts the border north of Grand Staircase Escalante from Red Canyon through Bryce Canyon and Escalante to Capitol Reef National Park.
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Boynton Overlook Grand Staircase 0806
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Sandstone cliffs and the Escalante Canyon from the cliff beside Boynton Overlook.
The area is called Phipps-Death Hollow due to the murder of Washington Phipps
by John H. Boynton in 1878. The two were partners in a horse-raising venture here.
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Boynton Overlook Grand Staircase 0808
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Escalante Canyon cliffs behind the Boynton Overlook.
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Boynton Overlook Grand Staircase 7098
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Escalante Canyon cliffs overlooking Phipps-Death Hollow.
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Boynton Overlook Grand Staircase 7096
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The riparian area along Escalante Canyon from the cliff face at Boynton Overlook.
The central section of this image is detailed in the previous image, above right. This
winding section of the Escalante Canyons once served as a 19th c. outlaw hideout.
Scenic Byway 12 enters the canyon at right, just past the Escalante River Bridge.
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Boynton Overlook Grand Staircase 7105
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Riparian area of the Escalante Canyon in Phipps-Death Hollow and the promontory
on the cliff beside Boynton Overlook, from which the previous set of images were taken.
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Head of the Rocks Grand Staircase 7093
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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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Head of the Rocks Grand Staircase 7094
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Beyond the tilted sandstone cliff are 3000 square miles of desert punctuated by the Henry Mountains in the distance.
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Head of the Rocks Grand Staircase 0796
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Detail of the colorful sandstone formations at the Head of the Rocks Overlook on
Scenic Byway 12. These formations, which are composed of fossilized sand dunes,
are in one of the very last parts of the United States to be explored and mapped.
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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 Link to the Grand Staircase Scenic gallery:
Grand Staircase Scenic
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Liston Cabin Escalante 1605
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The Rufus Liston Log Cabin in Escalante, Utah.
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Liston Cabin Escalante 1606
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Built in 1890, the cabin has been restored and stocked with Escalante area information.
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Liston Cabin Escalante 6976
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The cabin is operated as a local Pioneer Information Center.
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Liston Cabin Escalante 6977
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The dedication plaque and the front of the 1890 Rufus Liston Log Cabin in Escalante.
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Liston Cabin Door Escalante 6993
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The front door of the Rufus Liston Log Cabin.
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Liston Cabin Escalante 6979
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The rear of the Rufus Liston Log Cabin in Escalante.
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Devils Garden Landscape Grand Staircase 1607
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Grand Staircase Landscape and the Straight Cliffs of the Kaiparowits Plateau
looking northeast from Devil’s Garden off Hole in the Rock Road near Escalante.
Hole in the Rock Road is an occasionally maintained dirt track that penetrates the
Grand Staircase Escalante for 57 miles to the southeast from the town of Escalante.
One of few roads which enters the wilds of the Grand Staircase Escalante, it leads to
the Hole in the Rock, a narrow and very steep rocky crevice in the rim of Glen Canyon
which the Mormon Pioneers used to lower their wagons down the 1200 foot cliff to the
Colorado River. 17 miles down this washboard road is Devil’s Garden, an area with
spectacular hoodoo formations and arches, detailed on the Devil’s Garden page.
9 miles further is Dry Fork Wash of Coyote Gulch and Peek-a-Boo Slot Canyon.
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Calf Creek Canyon Hogback Grand Staircase 0819
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Calf Creek Canyon and Escalante Canyon from the Million Dollar Road traversing the Hogback near Boulder, Utah.
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Calf Creek Canyon Hogback Grand Staircase 0820
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Escalante River Canyon traverses the scene left to right, and Calf Creek Canyon enters from the left center.
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One of the wildest and most scenic highways in South-Central Utah, the section of Scenic Byway 12
that traverses the Hogback was completed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1938. Once called
the Million Dollar Road to Boulder (in Depression-era dollars), the road was the first into the remote
wilderness area, allowing travelers and mail to enter via auto rather than by mule train. The two lane
road across the Hogback Ridge runs over a narrow spine with precipitous drop-offs on both sides,
no guard rails, no pull-outs, 14 percent grades and spectacular views of the Escalante Canyon.
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Escalante Canyon Hogback Grand Staircase 0825
(589 KB)
An expansive view of Escalante Canyon from the Hogback.
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Escalante Canyon Hogback Grand Staircase 0827
(647 KB)
The dry bed of the Escalante River from Hogback Ridge.
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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 Link to the Grand Staircase Scenic gallery:
Grand Staircase Scenic
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Click the Display Composite above to return to the Grand Staircase Escalante Index page
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Click the Display Composite above to return to the Southwest Index page
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