Take the road less traveled. Find solitude and scenery on Scenic Byway 12, Cottonwood Canyon Road, Hole-in-the-Rock Road and Burr Trail.

Despite covering nearly 1.9 million acres, much of the sweeping Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument is quite remote. Very few trailheads can be reached on paved roads. All others are accessed by dirt roads that range from well-graded roads to unmaintained, rocky, or sandy doubletracks. These backroads not only offer access to trailheads, they also offer tremendous scenic driving potential.

Nearly all the trailheads in the monument are usually accessible to 2WD cars in dry weather, though a four-wheel-drive (4WD) vehicle is recommended when traveling off the pavement in southern Utah. You should also carry plenty of extra water for everyone and some emergency supplies. That said, conditions typically permit relatively easy access to some of the most popular hikes, like Spooky Canyon and Peek-a-boo Gulch on Hole-in-the-Rock Road and Grosvenor Arch on Cottonwood Road.