Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument including Singing Canyon

We took a day trip along Scenic Byway 12 and Burr Trail Road to Singing Canyon, a small slot canyon in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.

The monument is a massive area, almost two million acres, administered by the Bureau of Land Management.

The drive we went on was just a tiny fraction of it; inspired by this article.

The Grand Staircase is a massive series of cliffs, going from Cedar Breaks National Park to the Grand Canyon; here’s an image from the Wikipedia article:

Heading along Scenic Byway 12:

Lots of interesting rocks along the road:

Monument sign:

One of the visitor centers for the monument, in Cannonville, Utah:

Back on the road:

Another visitor center in Escalante, Utah:

Trying a prickly pear cactus candy snack from the first visitor center (pretty tasty):

Singing canyon, so named due to its amazing acoustics, which we can confirm; we had it all to ourselves, too:

Interesting rocks outside the canyon — actually it’s still in a canyon, Long Canyon:

Looking down into Long Canyon:

We encountered a couple of free-range cows on the road:

An enjoyable drive, and impressive slot canyon.