Utah's grand new monument - Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

Sunset, Feb, 1997 by Jeff Phillips

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument finally protects southern Utah's canyons, arches, and vast expanses of slickrock

The beefy, leather-faced man behind the wheel of the dusty car motioned me over with the wave of a gnarled, callused hand. "Hard Rock Miner - and Proud of It" was emblazoned across the front of the cap pulled down firmly on his brow. His voice rasped like gravel rolling in a pan: "You boys plannin' on hikin' up that canyon?"

We were parked at the mouth of the Gulch, a sandy, cottonwood-lined canyon meandering between impossibly tall ramparts of smooth red sandstone. We had, in fact, just hiked up the canyon. It had been our first taste of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, the West's newest national treasure, and we were still coming down from the high.

Given his hat, and the strong local sentiment against the new monument, I was surprised by LaVar Hollingshead, a 68-year-old retired miner from Pioche, Nevada. Like us, he was out exploring this wonderland of canyons, slickrock, and sculpted arches, with its pink Navajo, tan Entrada, and yellow Dakota sandstone. Unlike us, he had been here before, having spent three years in the mid-1950s prospecting for uranium.

This was his first trip back in 40 years, and the old prospector had a definite opinion about the place. "This national monument is about the only thing Bill Clinton has done right, as far as I'm concerned. We can't let these foreign companies come in and rip up our country just so they can make a buck off our coal."

For years the Dutch-based Andalex Resources had wanted to mine coal on the remote Kaiparowits Plateau, the difficult-to-reach heart of the new national monument. Millions of dollars and hundreds of jobs, the company promised, would pour into the local economy. But for just as many years, conservationists wanted to designate 5.7 million acres of Utah, including the Kaiparowits, as wilderness. Our grandkids, said conservationists, will thank us.

The controversy was resolved in an election-year move last fall when President Clinton designated 1.7 million acres of southern Utah as a new national monument. Good-bye coal, hello legacy.

While the move still has locals fuming, the furor in the rest of Utah is dying down. "In this state, it seems that every time a new park is created, some people have to be dragged into it kicking and screaming," says Ken Rait of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. "The fact is that tourism is the basis of Utah's economy, and this is a landscape that is globally unique. We see the new monument as a down payment for protecting the rest of the state's wildlands."

Down payment indeed. Grand Staircase-Escalante ranks among the largest federal lands in the country. Roll up all of Utah's national parks - Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Zion - then throw in the Grand Canyon across the border in Arizona, and you have an idea of how big the new monument is.

And a hint at what marvels it contains.

Planning essentials

To help you plan a trip into the monument, we've focused on its two most accessible regions - the painted cliffs of the Grand Staircase in the southwest and the canyons of the Escalante River in the northeast - and the roads into each area.

WHEN TO GO

Because elevations in the areas we cover range from 5,000 to 6,000 feet, cold and snow are possibilities well into March. The best hiking seasons are spring and fall. Summers can be dangerously hot, with July and August thunderstorms posing flash-flood dangers.

BEFORE YOU GO

Interagency Visitor Center in Escalante, open 8 to 5 weekdays (7 to 6 daily April through October), sells topographic maps and guidebooks; (801) 826-5499. Bureau of Land Management has a small office in Kanab; (801) 644-2672.

RULES OF THE ROAD

With the exception of Utah Highway 12 and Burr Trail Road, all roads into the monument are either graded gravel or dirt. While those mentioned here are passable in a two-wheel-drive car with good ground clearance in dry weather, a few commonsense rules apply.

* Fill the gas tank and carry plenty of water and food. There are no services in the monument.

* Check the weather. All roads can become impassable (even in a four-wheel-drive vehicle) when wet.

* Drive slowly. If you don't think your car can make it, turn around.

RULES OF THE TRAIL

Except at Calf Creek, there are no marked trails in the monument. One way to avoid getting disoriented is to hike upstream. As long as you don't climb out of the drainage, you'll be fine; to head back just follow the water downstream.

* Sign in - and out - at hiking registers at trail parking areas and/or at the offices in Kanab and Escalante.

* Flash floods are no joke. Check conditions at visitor centers, even if it's raining only in the mountains.

WHERE TO STAY

Kanab. Parry Lodge at 89 E. Center St. has long been a way station for Hollywood casts heading to red-rock country at Old Paria. Rates from $38 to $46; (801) 644-2601.

Kane County Information Center has lodging advice; (800) 733-5263.