Moominmama's Adventures: Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
In which Moominmama steps onto the Grand Staircase and goes in search of dinosaur tracks...
The Grand Staircase descends from the top step at Bryce Canyon for 5,000 feet and spreads over 1.9 million acres. It would take a lifetime to explore as it encompasses not only Bryce National Park, with its pink and white spires, but extends through Zion National Park down to a bottom step in the Grand Canyon of Arizona.
The Southern Paiute tribes avoided Bryce Canyon because the spires were believed to be evil people who'd been turned to stone. Their word "oo'doo" referred to feelings of fear and was mistranslated to our word: hoodoo. The Paiute call this place Angka-ku-wass-a-wits, meaning red painted faces.
The entire Grand Staircase, for which Bryce is a stepping-off point, is designed by chemistry, compression and erosion over millennia with layers of sediment compressed by inland waterways and mineral mixtures into rocks such as sandstone, limestone, coal and shale, all of varying degrees of hardness.
When tectonic plate action about 300 miles to the west shoved up the top of the region, parts of the rest fell away into steps, with colored cliffs, mysterious canyons and long stretches of plateau and mesa. And over dozens more millennia, erosion, including flash floods, has left surprises at every turn.
At the top is the Claron formation, a brittle limestone that's been sculpted by water and ice, breaking off pieces that fall into the canyon below and creating fins and spires that can look like fairy castles from a distance. Apparently a Mormon family that settled on the Paunsaugunt Plateau were initially unaware of the canyon hidden on the horizon. But once a forest service supervisor began to promote it, they started what's known as Ruby's Inn, now a whole network of tourist services just outside the park.
Moominmama continues to camp a few steps down from Bryce, both at lower elevation and overlooking a different rock formation: Entrada sandstone, an older, softer rock that wears away into smooth, strangely sculpted shapes and dunes.
Where Moominmama assumed the "steps" were defined by their colors, I'm learning that the color of rock often has little to do with its type and more to do with chemistry. High levels of iron oxide create the deep reds and oranges, but chemical reactions can also bleach the iron oxides out and leave behind sandstone that's pale grey or nearly white.
The idea for protecting the steps as a whole didn't take hold until 1996, and even now, it's a matter of balancing private uses with conservation. The National Monument would be half its current size if President Biden had not undone the actions of his predecessor. But hiking means passing by cattle on the move, private homes and "unimproved" roads in the area managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
Compared to Bryce or even Kodachrome Basin State Park, it's an adventure to get onto the BLM-protected areas, with unique features not well publicized. Take, for example, the Dinosaur Tracks on top of white Entrada sandstone about 15 (bone rattling) miles from Escalante. A BLM ranger warned me this was more of a "scavenger hunt" than an exhibit. It required climbing up a stone sand dune and walking slowly back and forth looking for discolored spots.
But still amazing to know I was walking the same ground as dinosaurs and looking out over a landscape much as they might have.
Moominmama has enjoyed hiking in Grand Staircase and environs, wandering through slot canyons or narrows, around hoodoos, and through natural arches. It is far less crowded than the national parks. I was the only one searching out the dinosaur tracks and had only cows below to keep me company.
I am loving this wide open desert country, with surprises round every corner. And some pretty interesting corners at that!
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ReplyDeleteActually, I tried to edit a misspelling and failed! Your descriptions are vivid and informative! Thanks for taking us along with you!
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