Best American Adventures: Canyoneer Grand Staircase-Escalante

 

We've just updated our popular America's Best Adventures feature with 50 new trips, bringing our grand total to 100 iconic escapes (see the map, state-by-state list, and photo gallery, too). So no matter what your pleasure—hiking, heli-skiing, surfing, climbing, biking, or paddling—we've got the perfect adventure for you. Check in each day for a new, out-the-backdoor adventure highlighted here on our blog.

By Kate Siber; Photograph by Howie Garber, Mira

The deep, tangled canyons of southern Utah are a remote and unforgiving country with the ever present danger of flash floods, extreme temperatures, lightning storms, and waist-high quicksand. In other words, perfect habitat for canyoneers, who know that the area’s unbroken wildness and otherworldly wind- and water-sculpted chasms are precisely what make it so appealing. Many canyons still remain unnamed, making true exploration a possibility.

A little know-how, however, can go a long way in mitigating the risks, which is why the American Canyoneering Association and outfitter Excursions of Escalante teamed up to offer three-day canyoneering courses. Students learn how to evaluate the weather, assess risks, tie basic knots, set up anchors, rappel up to 300 feet (91 meters), and squeeze through tight canyon walls. The classroom is arguably some of the best canyoneering territory in the country: Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Some of the last lands to be mapped in the continental U.S., this high, remote desert is pocked with sinewy, red-sandstone canyons that twist and turn into Gaudí-like spaces.

Need to Know: A basic course is $500. Contact Excursions of Escalante for dates (www.excursionsofescalante.com).

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It is so interesting to read about canyons of southern Utah.I have never seen any canyons place but I really want to visit and enjoy it.I also came to know about American Canyoneering Association.

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Utah in my opinion is the most underrated state! It is absolutely stunning. I had the chance to drive through and do some camping and hiking last year. Fell in love with it!