UTAH – GRAND STAIRCASE-ESCALANTE NATIONAL MONUMENT – Burr Trail

Notes: Don’t let the name fool you. Burr Trail is a good paved road. And one that is worth spending time on. Burr Trail begins at the southern end of the small town of Boulder, UT on Utah’s Scenic Byway 12. About a mile after turning off the Byway, you will cross the boundary into the National Monument. But you might want to spend a few moments at the large formation of white Entrada sandstone on the right, just after leaving Utah 12. The cross-hatched bedding layers in the stone and the occasional conifers that have found enough soil to make a home create some interesting patterns. Back on Burr Trail, continue driving in a more-or-less southwesterly direction across the Aquarius Plateau in between more Entrada sandstone hills. In a few miles, the road turns northeast and descends the plateau. At The Gulch, the road enters the well-named Long Canyon, in which the route traverses a canyon of striking reddish-orange sandstone cliffs. These cliffs, streaked with desert varnish, soar hundreds of feet above the canyon floor.

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