Your Grand Staircase-Escalante CME conference.

Grand Staircase-Escalante after your study day

Study days finish at 2:00 PM local time. For an easy afternoon, choose one outing close to the town of Escalante: Escalante Petrified Forest State Park, about 2.3 miles from town, has a one-mile loop trail; the 3.2-mile round-trip hike from the Escalante River trailhead on Highway 12 leads to Escalante Natural Bridge; or stop at the Escalante Interagency Visitor Center on West Main Street for road and trail information.

The monument is remote, and the Bureau of Land Management advises planning around difficulty rather than distance. Travel, accommodation and any permits are arranged separately. Your conference is built around your specialty and interests; the desert is the setting you choose for it.

Slot canyons and Hole-in-the-Rock Road

Several short hikes start from Hole-in-the-Rock Road. Utah’s tourism office lists a 3.5-mile loop through Spooky and Peekaboo slot canyons, where the walls are less than 12 inches apart in places, a 0.7-mile loop at Devils Garden past Metate Arch, Mano Arch and hoodoos, and a 1.2-mile out-and-back walk to the Twenty Mile Dinosaur Trackway. Coyote Gulch, at 11.5 miles round trip, and Golden Cathedral, at 9.4 miles, are long outings to weigh against a 2:00 PM finish.

The BLM says nearly all of the monument’s north–south roads are primitive, that driving off roads is prohibited, and that you should bring plenty of water and a vehicle in good condition. Flash floods can follow rainstorms, make roads impassable and make slot canyons deadly, so check the forecast. The Escalante visitor center has up-to-date road and trail information, and the BLM publishes a road report that it updates weekly or as conditions require.

Calf Creek and the Highway 12 drive

The trailhead for Lower Calf Creek Falls is at the Calf Creek campground, about 15 miles east of Escalante on Scenic Byway 12. Sources differ on the trail’s length, so confirm it with the BLM. The route is often sandy, and pictographs can be seen on the canyon wall midway along. Spring and fall are the recommended seasons, and an early start is suggested in summer, so compare the outing with your 2:00 PM finish.

Highway 12 is Utah’s only All-American Road, about 120 miles long, and the stretch called the Hogback runs between Escalante and Boulder. The Burr Trail Scenic Backway is 66.2 miles and about half paved; the graded dirt section inside Capitol Reef requires four-wheel drive. Hells Backbone is a 38-mile loop that takes about two hours. Compare the distances with your 2:00 PM finish before choosing a drive.

A quieter afternoon by the reservoir

Escalante Petrified Forest State Park sits on a plateau about two miles northwest of town, off Highway 12, beside Wide Hollow Reservoir. The one-mile Petrified Forest Trail loops through lava flows and juniper forest. The optional Sleeping Rainbows Trail is a steeper 0.75-mile loop with moderate scrambling and has the densest concentration of petrified wood, including logs up to 15 feet long. The visitor center displays petrified wood, dinosaur bones and fossils.

The park is open year-round, and the state park says late March through September is the most comfortable time. For summer, the state park suggests hiking in the early morning or late evening.

When to visit Grand Staircase-Escalante

Utah’s tourism office suggests April and May as a good time to visit, with highs of 65–75°F and lows above freezing. Summer, from June to early September, has highs from the mid-60s to the upper 90s and thunderstorms that bring sudden temperature swings and heavy rain. In fall, the average high is 61°F and the average low is 31°F.

Winter highs are in the mid- to upper 40s°F, with lows in the teens. About 28 inches of snow falls each year, usually from October or November through March or April. November through March is the wettest and snowiest period, and the area receives about 10 inches of precipitation annually.

Getting to Grand Staircase-Escalante and your study setting

The monument is in southern Utah, about 290 highway miles south of Salt Lake City or 250 miles east of Las Vegas, according to the BLM. Cedar City Airport has commuter service and is 80 miles west of Bryce Canyon. St. George Airport is 135 miles from Bryce Canyon, and Salt Lake City and Las Vegas are about 270 miles away. Check each route on a map before booking flights.

Two paved roads reach the monument: Highway 89 to the south and Highway 12 to the north. The Escalante visitor center is on Highway 12, 58 miles east of Highway 89. Kodachrome Basin State Park is 41.1 miles from Escalante and Bryce Canyon National Park is 59 miles away.

The map shows straight-line distances from Shift’s designated center. These are orientation distances, not driving distances or travel-time estimates. Check your exact address against the conference’s check-in area before booking.