Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument

Salamander
Sun 20 Oct 2019 18:34

This BLM managed National Monument is massive and we keep visiting but still have plenty to see. This time we dispersed camped and for 2 days saw only one person who had lost a horse and rider. We were a bit worried as temperatures dropped below freezing at night. Thankfully, about 6 hours later we heard shouting and climbing up our nearest hill we could see a cowboy and horse, herding 3 cows back.
We visited and walked all the trails at Kodachrome State Park. The mountain bike route was beyond the capabilities of us and our bikes. At least even if the campsite was not to our liking, we had a RV dump, very clean loos and a laundrette on site.
The National Monument requires a permit for camping, despite being BLM land; thankfully we had a map showing all the borders. The air here is so dry that it takes your breath away.
Sadly the rainy season produced no rain, so roads are becoming impassable even to ATVs as the pink/red sands of Utah soften. We will be mooching around Utah, Arizona, Nevada now for about a month.

This was our campsite and there was no-one about

Grand
          Staircase Escalante National Monument

Kodachrome State Park road winds through the most amazing rocks and the park has many weird and wonderful shaped formations.

Grand
          Staircase Escalante National Monument

Grand
          Staircase Escalante National Monument

Grand
          Staircase Escalante National Monument

Grand
          Staircase Escalante National Monument

Grand
          Staircase Escalante National Monument

Grand
          Staircase Escalante National Monument