Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument
In October 2020, myself and three buddies took a week long hiking tour of Arizona and Utah seeing the sites worth seeing. The Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument is really more of an extremely large area covering mostly Utah and into Arizona (and considered part of the Rocky Mountain Region. There are a number of visitor centers and sites to visit, tour, and grab stamps. I was only able to visit a few on this trip and look forward to additional stops in the future.
Big Water Visitor Center
Located right Route 89 in Utah, it's an easy stop on your way to Zion or Bryce Canyon coming up from Arizona. It's a cool little spot with a lot of information on dinosaur fossils. This also counts as a stop for the Glen Canyon Recreation Area and Old Spanish Historic Trail.
During a return visit in April, 2023, William was able to see all the fossils and talk with an archaeologist who had personally discovered multiple new dinosaur species, some of which were on display at the VC.
Cannonville Visitor Center
This is only open during the fall/winter season making collecting the stamps in person a bit more difficult requiring me to mail away for the set located here.
Carl Hayden Visitor Center
This was a tricky VC to actually visit as it was closed each of the three times I had been in the area for either Covid or renovations. If you're in the area of Page, be sure to stop in here and give yourself time to get tips for hikes and visits in the area from the rangers and learn all about Lake Powell and the dam.
Interagency BLM Visitor Center
Kanab BLM Field Office
If you're going to try to get a permit to the Wave, this is the spot to try for the lottery in person during normal times. It was closed the two times we drove by it, but I'm counting the visit anyway and the stamps as earned.
Paria Contact Station
This 'ranger' station was closed, and I think may have been for sometime prior to the pandemic of 2020. But we made a quick stop in as it's also right off of Route 89 in Utah not too far from the Big Water VC to snap a couple of photos and count it as visited.
Rainbow Bridge National Monument
A historical site all to it's own and part of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, you can see the full gallery here.
