Escalante

This canyon country has long been part of the homeland of the Southern Paiute people, and the surrounding canyons hold sites left by the Ancestral Puebloan and Fremont peoples, who farmed and hunted here roughly a thousand years ago, leaving granaries and rock art tucked into the cliffs. The Paiute people and their descendants maintain ties to this land today.

Mormon pioneers settled Escalante in the 1870s, naming it for a Spanish friar who had passed through the region a century earlier while searching for a route across the West. The town remained one of the most cut-off communities in Utah for generations. Nearby is the legendary Hole-in-the-Rock, where in 1879 a pioneer expedition blasted and hacked a wagon route down a sheer canyon wall to the Colorado River, one of the most audacious feats of the pioneer era.

The country around Escalante is a sandstone wilderness on a grand scale, part of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The Escalante River carves a long canyon through it, joined by countless side canyons, some of them narrow slots where the walls close in until a hiker can touch both sides at once. Waterfalls, natural arches, and hanging gardens hide in these clefts, rewarding those willing to seek them out.

The rock itself is mostly Navajo sandstone, the same fossilized dunes that form the cliffs and domes across southern Utah, sculpted here into swirling slickrock, deep gorges, and smooth-walled canyons. Because so much of it is roadless and remote, the Escalante country offers a rare chance to experience wilderness that feels genuinely untouched, still full of places few people ever reach.

Highway 12, which runs through town, is one of the most celebrated scenic drives in the country, threading across narrow slickrock ridges and climbing over a forested mountain between Escalante and Boulder. Along it and the dirt roads branching off it lie many of the region's highlights, from the popular hike to Lower Calf Creek Falls to the swirling stone of Devils Garden and the slot canyons off the long Hole-in-the-Rock Road.

Escalante makes the natural hub for all of it, close to the Petrified Forest State Park and its reservoir, within reach of Bryce Canyon to the west and Capitol Reef to the east, and surrounded by trailheads. Outfitters in town lead guided canyon trips, and the local knowledge they offer is invaluable in country where a wrong turn can mean a very long day.

The surrounding wilderness supports the tough, quiet life of the high desert. Mule deer and pronghorn range the flats, mountain lions and coyotes hunt the canyons, and the streams and hanging gardens draw songbirds, frogs, and the occasional beaver. Golden eagles and hawks ride the winds above the slickrock. With almost no light for miles, the night skies over Escalante are among the darkest in the nation.

Spring and fall are the prime seasons, mild and clear, ideal for canyon hiking and long scenic drives. Summer is hot in the low canyons and marked by the sudden thunderstorms of the monsoon, which make flash floods a real danger in the slots. Winter is cold and quiet, with snow dusting the slickrock and the mountain pass on Highway 12, and the town settling into a peaceful off-season calm.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is a place we chose through independent editorial review, never a paid placement.

Escalante is a small, remote town in southern Utah along the spectacular Scenic Byway 12, serving as the main gateway to the vast Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Surrounded by a wonderland of slot canyons, waterfalls, and red-rock backcountry, it is a beloved base camp for hikers and adventurers, and it is also home to the Escalante Petrified Forest State Park. With its dark skies, laid-back feel, and access to endless wild country, it is a haven for those seeking rugged desert exploration.

Escalante puts you within reach of remarkable adventures, from the beautiful hike to Lower Calf Creek Falls to the famous slot canyons off Hole-in-the-Rock Road, such as Peek-a-Boo, Spooky, and Zebra, plus the hoodoos of Devil's Garden and the petrified wood at the nearby state park. A monument visitor center helps you plan. After dark, the exceptionally clear skies make for superb stargazing. It is a launch point for some of the wildest and most rewarding terrain in the Southwest.

Spring and fall offer the most comfortable temperatures for hiking the canyons and exploring the monument, while summer brings desert heat and the monsoon season's flash-flood risk, and winter is quiet and cold. The scenery along Scenic Byway 12 is stunning in any season. For the slot canyons and backcountry in particular, the milder shoulder seasons are ideal, both for comfort and for safer, more stable weather conditions.

This is remote country, so come prepared. Escalante is a small town with limited services, so fuel up and stock supplies, and know that many attractions lie down dirt backroads that can become impassable when wet, so check road conditions. Slot canyons carry serious flash-flood risk, so always check the weather and never enter them when rain threatens anywhere upstream. Carry plenty of water, tell someone your plans, and treat the fragile desert with care.

Escalante sits along Scenic Byway 12, one of the most beautiful drives in the country, between the town of Boulder and Bryce Canyon country. Nearby are Bryce Canyon National Park, Kodachrome Basin State Park, the Anasazi State Park Museum in Boulder, and, farther along the byway, Capitol Reef National Park. Surrounded by the immense Grand Staircase-Escalante monument, the town is perfectly positioned for a road trip through some of southern Utah's most spectacular scenery.