The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument encompasses a vast area of multi-hued cliffs, twisting canyons, expansive plateaus and all manner of buttes, pinnacles and mesas. It is untamed land filled with terrifically difficult terrain. It features some terrific scenic drives, good hiking, challenging off-road 4wd exploring and plenty of photo opportunities.
The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is a dramatic, multi-hued landscape that is rich in natural and human history. It is an area of plateaus, sandstone canyon, unique rock formations and cliffs in southern Utah. The 1.9 million acres of desert became the nation’s newest national monument in September 1996. This land is managed by the Bureau of Land Management and represents a unique combination of archaeological, historical, paleontological, geological and biological resources. These strikingly beautiful and scientifically important lands are divided into three distinct regions: the Grand Staircase, the Kaiparowits Plateau and the Canyons of the Escalante.
The monument extends eastward from Bryce Canyon National Park to Capitol Reef National Park and the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. It borders the Dixie National Forest on the north and extends southward to the Arizona state line. Scenic Byway 12 winds through the northern portion and backways branching from Highway 12 provide access to trails and features in the monument.
The monument comprises three areas. The Grand Staircase area starts from the edge of the pink cliffs of Bryce Canyon National Park and descends successive steps of gray, white, vermilion and chocolate cliffs to the Cockscomb Ridge, a striking 20 mile long ridge of rock thrust up from the earth. The large Kaiparowits Plateau, a broad mesa carved through with narrow canyons, occupies the center of the monument. To the east is the Escalante Canyon area, through which runs the Escalante River and the canyons created by it and its tributaries.
History & Culture
The first evidence of human use in the region protected by Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument dates to about 7,000 years ago when small family groups camped wherever they could collect plants, seeds and hunt. About 2000 years ago, some groups began growing corn and other crops. They built permanent villages (often called ”pueblos”). Between 900 A. D. 1200 A. D., two distinctive puebloan farming cultures were here: the Virgin Branch Anasazi and the Parowan Fremont. The Southern Paiute were also in the region by 1100 A. D. While the Puebloan cultures migrated to other areas of the southwest by 1200 A. D., the Southern Paiute remained to the present day. In the mid-19th century, Euro-Americans began establishing settlements in Zion Canyon. During the Archaic period (approximately 6000 B. C. 500 A. D.), small groups hunted game and collected wild plants, seeds and nuts across the broad expanse of the Great Basin and western Colorado Plateau. This mobile lifeway left few traces in the archeological record, with the exception of materials recovered from dry caves and a few deeply buried sites. In these protected settings, perishable artifacts, such as baskets, cordage nets and yucca fiber sandals, survived. The Archaic toolkits also included flaked stone knives, drills and stemmed dart points. The dart points were hafted to wooden shafts and propelled by throwing devices, called atlatls.
By about 300 B. C., some archaic groups had begun to supplement wild foods in their diets by cultivating small patches of corn and squash along rivers and near springs. Archeologists have been labeled these groups the “Basketmakers”, because of the abundance of coiled and twined baskets found in many late Archaic sites. These early experiments with horticulture reduced group mobility and increased the need for food storage. Basketmaker sites often have grass or stone-lined storage cists and shallow, partially underground dwellings, called pithouses.
Within a few centuries, small-scale gardening had intensified into the full time horticulture that typifies the Formative period (500 A. D. 1300 A. D.). Two distinctive horticultural groups, the Virgin Anasazi and Parowan Fremont, appear in the archeological record of Grand Staircase National Mounument during this period. They established year round habitation sites (often called “pueblos, the Spanish word for “village” or “community”) with pithouses, storage cists and later, above-ground masonry room blocks. Grinding stones (“manos and metates”) signal the importance of corn in the diets of both groups. Sedentary lifestyles encouraged the production of plain and painted ceramic vessels. These were used for storage, food preparation and as trade goods across broad geographic areas. The new technology of the bow and arrow also gained widespread acceptance during the Formative period. The extent to which the Virgin Anasazi exploited wild plants and game is still unclear. Some researchers suggest that they were almost totally dependent on cultivated foods. By contrast, the Parowan Fremont may have continued to hunt and collect a broad spectrum of wild resources to supplement cultivated foods.
Virgin Anasazi sites typically occur on river terraces along the Virgin River and its major tributaries, overlooking the fertile river bottoms where corn, squash and other crops could be grown. There is evidence that hunting and collecting parties made forays to nearby upland areas, like the Kolob Plateau. Parowan Fremont sites are found along stream courses and near springs. They cultivated a drought and cold tolerant variety of corn (called Fremont Dent) that could be successfully grown at higher elevations. The Virgin Anasazi and Parowan Fremont appear to have interacted along cultural contact zones, such as the Kolob Plateau, during the last years of the Formative period.
Both the Virgin Anasazi and the Parowan Fremont disappear from the archeological record of southwestern Utah by about 1300 A. D. Extended droughts in the 11th and 12th centuries, interspersed with catastrophic flooding, may have made horticulture impossible in this arid region. Some researchers have suggested that the sedentary horticultural groups could not successfully compete for wild resources with the more mobile Numic language speakers (such as the Southern Paiute and Ute) who were in the region by at least 1100 A. D.
The time span between 1300 A. D. and the late 1700′s has been described as the “Neo-Archaic” by some researchers, since the lifeways were reminiscent of the earlier adaptation. The Numic language speakers were the only occupants of the Zion landscape. They depended on a wide array of wild plants and animals, moving seasonally to hunt game or collect ripe seeds and nuts. This mobile lifestyle was reflected in their material possessions, which consisted of baskets, nets and snares, as well as bows and arrows. Some, particularly the Southern Paiute, also planted fields of corn, sunflowers and squash to supplement their collected wild foods. These more sedentary groups made brownware vessels that were for storage and cooking.
The Historic period begins in the late 1700′s, with the exploration and settlement of southern Utah by Euro-Americans. Initial explorations by traders from New Mexico blazed the Old Spanish Trail, which followed the Virgin River for a portion of its length. During the next century, American fur trappers and government surveyors added new overland travel routes across the region. In 1872, John Wesley Powell explored the areas around Zion Canyon, as part of western surveys conducted by the U. S. Geological Survey. The early pack trails soon became well-used wagon roads, connecting Santa Fe to the California markets.
In 1847, Brigham Young led members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) to Utah Territory, establishing settlements in the Great Salt Lake Valley. Within a decade, Mormon pioneers were sent to settle the southern part of the territory and grow cotton in Utah’s “Dixie”. Towns like Shunesberg, Springdale, Grafton, Adventure and Paradise sprang up along the upper Virgin River during the 1860′s. In 1863, Issac Behunin built the first log cabin in Zion Canyon, near the location of the Zion Lodge. Soon the canyon was dotted with other homesteads, including that of William Crawford, near Oak Creek.
During the remainder of the century, the small communities and homesteads struggled to survive. Catastrophic flooding by the river, little arable land and poor soils made agriculture in the upper Virgin River a risky venture. Some of these settlements, including Shunesberg and Grafton, were ultimately abandoned for more favorable locations.
By the first decade of the 20th century, the scenic qualities of southern Utah and Zion Canyon in particular, had been recognized as a potential destination for tourism. In 1909, a presidential Executive Order designated Mukuntuweap (Zion) National Monument, in Zion Canyon. The new monument was, however, virtually inaccessible to visitors, since the existing roads were in poor condition and the closest railhead a hundred miles away. The Utah State Road Commission, established in that year, began construction on a state highway system that would eventually improve access to the southern region. State officials also negotiated with the Union Pacific Railroad to develop rail and automobile links and tourism facilities in southern Utah. By the summer of 1917, touring cars could finally reach Wylie Camp, a tent camping resort that comprised the first visitor lodging in Zion
Canyon.
In 1919, a Congressional bill designating Grand Staircase National Mounument was signed into law. Visitation to the new national park increased steadily during the 1920′s, particularly after the Union Pacific extended a spur rail line to Cedar City. The Utah Parks Company, a subsidiary of the Union Pacific, acquired the Wylie Camp in Zion and offered ten day rail/bus tours to Zion, Bryce, Kaibab and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Construction on the Zion Lodge complex, designed in “Rustic Style” by architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood, began in the mid-1920′s. In 1930, the newly completed Zion-Mt Carmel highway allowed motorists to travel through Zion to Bryce and points east. This highway was one of the greatest engineering feats of modern times, requiring the construction of a 5,613 foot tunnel to negotiate the vertical sandstone cliffs of Zion.
Visitor numbers at Grand Staircase National Mounument have continued to increase over time, necessitating the construction of trails, campgrounds and other facilities. The economic benefits of tourism now support the small communities surrounding the park, ensuring their survival into a new millennium of human history.
Traveler Facts
Contact Information
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
190 E. Center
Kanab, UT 84741
Phone: 435-644-4680
Weather/Climate
The Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument is mostly desert with rainfall averaging under 10″ a year. Teperatures vary widely depending on altitude, but generally the best times to visit are April to June and Septemebr to October. During these periods temperatures are more moderate and rainfall minimal. Unfortunately, gnats and deerflies are often bothersome in May and June.
Summer months are hot with temperatures frequently exceeding 100 degrees F at lower elevations. Average highs are in the 90′s; average lows are in the 60′s. As is the case in all desert environments, temperatures drop quickly once the sun sets. July and August experience thunderstorms that tend to quickly come and go. The rainy season can last into September.
In winter, temperatures range from 15 to 45 degress F with snow common at the higher elevations. However, snow and sub-zero cold can occur throughout the Monument in the winter. Wet and snow conditions often render many of the Monument’s roads impassable.
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