Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

About 185 miles away from our St. George sanctuary, we hit Utah Highway 12 in Escalante to traverse Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. For those keeping score at home, this is a massive, sprawling expanse of nearly 1.87 million acres of federally protected dirt, deep canyons, and cliffs that look like giant steps. It is essentially nature’s version of a multi-tiered concrete parking garage, if the garage was painted neon orange and lacked any cell service.

Leesa immediately whipped out her phone to record video footage of this geological staircase, right as we hit the infamous Hogsback section of Highway 12. If you are unfamiliar with this stretch of asphalt, it is a razor-thin ridge where the highway department apparently ran out of budget for both shoulders and guardrails. Instead, they just paved the absolute peak of a sandstone spine, leaving a sheer, hundred-foot drop directly off both sides of the white lines. It’s the kind of road where you don’t dare blink, and your knuckles turn a lovely shade of translucent white while you pray the Ford Flex doesn’t encounter a strong gust of wind.

From our vantage point on the highway above, the sheer, death-defying drop of the road was supposed to be “minimized” by the mind-blowing rock valley layout waiting below us. Personally, I found it hard to admire the majestic tapestry of undulating rock hills and jagged peaks when my primary focus was making sure our car didn’t become a permanent fixture of the canyon floor.

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Capitol Reef National Park

After rolling 67 miles past Escalante, we officially crossed the threshold into Capitol Reef National Park. In a refreshing display of public service, this park doesn’t charge an entrance fee at the main state route entrance, but we proudly waved our America the Beautiful pass anyway just to assert our dominance as elite National Park frequent flyers.

Before we could reach the absolute sanctuary of the Visitor Center and the promises of baked goods, we had to run a gauntlet of roadside geology lessons. Leesa, operating with zero chill and a fully charged phone battery, insisted on pulling over at every single designated viewpoint along State Route 24. I played my traditional role of vehicular anchor, evaluating each formation through the window while Leesa did the actual field work.

1. Twin Rocks Viewpoint

Our first official stop was at Twin Rocks. True to their incredibly literal name, these are two massive blocks of sandstone sitting precariously on a ledge, looking exactly like a pair of giant, rocky twins silently judging everyone driving past them on the highway. Leesa hopped out to document them, ensuring we had photographic proof that the rocks had not moved since the last tourist drove by.

2. Chimney Rock Viewpoint

Next up was Chimney Rock, a towering, isolated pillar of stone shooting straight up into the desert sky. It looks less like a functional household chimney and more like a giant, crumbling pillar left behind by an ancient civilization that forgot to finish building their house. Leesa completed her tactical perimeter walk and snapped her photos while I marveled at how gravity hadn’t claimed it yet.

3. The Fluted Wall Viewpoint

We then rolled up to The Fluted Wall, which is a massive cliff face heavily carved with vertical grooves and deep ridges. It genuinely looks like someone took a giant, celestial fork and aggressively scraped it straight down the side of the mountain just for the aesthetic. Leesa took a whole gallery of shots of this heavily textured sandstone skyscraper.

4. The Castle Viewpoint

Our final roadside distraction before civilization was The Castle. This towering formation dominates the skyline and actually lives up to its grand name, sporting natural battlements, towers, and columns that make it look like a medieval fortress guarding the canyon. Leesa hopped out to snap the final set of prehistoric real estate photos before we were legally allowed to go hunt down some food.

Capital Reef Scenic Drive

Our first strategic maneuver was pulling over at the Visitor Center. Located directly behind it in an exceptionally fertile, green river valley packed with fruit trees is the historic Gifford House. Leesa marched inside and secured the real prize of the afternoon: one of their legendary, homemade fresh cherry pies. We proceeded to absolutely devour it in a matter of minutes. It was completely delicious and easily qualified as the single most critical tactical achievement of the day.

Properly sugared up, we entered State Route 24 and tackled the official 8-mile Capitol Reef Scenic Drive. To say it was scenic is a massive understatement, but the real highlight was the absolute atmospheric whiplash. When we first crossed into the park boundaries, the dashboard read a chilly 62 degrees and it was actively raining. By the time we completed the short drive, the storm vanished, the skies cleared completely, and the temperature shot straight up to a blistering 100 degrees.

From my seat in the car, the massive canyon walls looked completely wild. They were heavily dotted with circular hollows, looking exactly like a defensive fortification that had been aggressively bombarded with historic cannonballs. The rock formations were completely hollowed out like blocks of giant Swiss cheese. These deep cavities running along the sandstone cliffs strongly resembled a massive barrier reef—so I am officially concluding that’s where the “Reef” portion of the park’s name originates.

With the final crumbs of our Capitol Reef cherry pie officially digested, we are pointing the Ford Flex directly toward the off-road mecca of Moab for a massive four-night stay at the Wyndham Moab. We have decided that our suspension hasn’t suffered quite enough on this trip, so we are locking in a triple-header of national parks that will test the absolute limits of my wheelchair wheels, Leesa’s camera storage, and our mutual sanity.

Here is a quick warning of the chaos we are preparing to inflict upon ourselves next:

• Canyonlands National Park: We are heading deep into the “Islands in the Sky” district to look down at massive, gaping chasms in the earth. I fully plan on anchoring myself at the safest paved overlooks available while Leesa attempts to photograph the vast desert voids without dropping her phone into a thousand-foot drop.
• Mesa Verde National Park: Yes, we know this is technically in Colorado and a bit of a trek, but logic has never stopped us before. We are traveling over to inspect some ancient cliff dwellings and “First Permanent Homes”. I am highly eager to see how pre-historic architectures stack up against the ground-floor “penthouses” of modern times.
• Arches National Park: We are returning to the land of gravity-defying sandstone loops and the famous Balanced Rock.

We’re unpacking our circus at the Wyndham Moab for the next four days to see if my wheels can survive the ultimate red-rock gauntlet. Stay tuned to find out which park delivers the best views, and whether I manage to avoid flipping over backward in a whole new zip code!

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