Start from 21 curated places around Escalante, UT, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Hell's Backbone Grill & Farm
The James Beard-recognized destination restaurant in tiny Boulder, run on Buddhist principles with most produce and meat coming from the owners' six-acre farm next door. The menu is seasonal Four Corners cooking, a mix of Southwestern, cowboy, and old Mormon recipes that changes with what the garden gives. People plan their whole route through here just to eat.
Burr Trail Grill
A bright, art-filled roadhouse at the start of the Burr Trail in Boulder, known as much for its homemade pies as its lamb burger and hefty sandwiches. It is the relaxed counterpart to the fine dining down the road, good for a long lunch after a morning on the slickrock. Order dessert even if you think you are full.
Trails & outdoors
Lower Calf Creek Falls
The signature day hike of the area, a roughly six-mile round trip up a sandy canyon to a 130-foot waterfall pouring into a cold green pool you can swim in. The flat, well-built path passes beaver ponds, ancient rock art, and a granary high on the cliff. It is busy for good reason and works for families willing to put in the miles.
Upper Calf Creek Fall Trailhead
The shorter, steeper, far quieter sibling to the famous lower falls, dropping fast over slickrock to a waterfall and pools. It is only a few miles round trip but the return climb is a real workout in the heat. People who want the waterfall payoff without the crowds come here instead.
Things to do
Excursions of Escalante
Escalante's longtime professional guide service for canyoneering, slot-canyon hiking, and multi-day trips deep into the monument and beyond. Guides handle the ropes, route-finding, and permits so first-timers can safely do technical slots most visitors never see. It is the way to experience the serious backcountry without the risk of going alone.
Escape Goats
A small, family-run outfitter offering guided day hikes and shuttles into the slot canyons and backcountry, led by a guide with deep botany, geology, and archaeology knowledge. Trips come with a packed lunch and the kind of local interpretation you cannot get on your own. Good for travelers who want the natural-history story alongside the scenery.
Landmarks & sights
Escalante Petrified Forest State Park
A small state park right above town built around a hillside scattered with 130-million-year-old petrified wood, wrapped around Wide Hollow Reservoir. Short interpretive loops put colorful chunks of fossilized log right at your feet, and the reservoir adds swimming and paddling in a place where water is rare. It doubles as one of the area's certified dark-sky spots after the sun drops.
Devil's Garden
A free, fenceless playground of hoodoos, mushroom rocks, and two delicate arches a dozen miles down the washboard Hole-in-the-Rock Road. There are no marked trails; you wander, scramble, and climb wherever the sandstone leads, which makes it a hit with kids and photographers alike. It is the easiest taste of backcountry Escalante you can reach by car.