4 Days Exploring Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante: A Photographer’s Desert Dream Workshop
- Jess Santos
- Jun 28
- 7 min read
If you’ve ever dreamed of escaping into a land of swirling sandstone, towering hoodoos, and star filled skies, Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante should be at the top of your list. This four day photography workshop blended storytelling with geology, adventure with artistry and late night Milky Way sessions with early morning cowboy scrambles. Whether you're interested in planning your own trip through a location with names like: hell's backbone, devil's garden and scorpion gulch... or just love a good story, here's a look at what made this adventure filled with the frontier spirit that shaped this rugged land.
Day 1: Hoodoos, Satellites and Shooting Stars in the Devil's Garden
Location: Devil’s Garden, Hole-in-the-Rock Road
"We got hoodoos, they got doodoos" ~ Ian Lauer
Our journey began in the surreal landscapes of Devil’s Garden, a gem off the infamous Hole-in-the-Rock Road. This remote region of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is home to unusual sandstone features, including natural arches and hoodoos.
What’s a hoodoo? These funky mushroom shaped rock towers form when softer sediment erodes away beneath a hard cap rock (think of it like a hat), leaving gravity-defying formations that look like they belong on another planet. The process can take millions of years and the results are spectacular.
While most photographers come here for the classic Metate Arch shot, we took a different route. We wandered past the expected to find a unique composition and played with scale and storytelling by incorporating a human figure and a little light painting during blue hour into the scene.
After a simple dinner of spaghetti and salad, we set up for night photography. Stacking and tracking the Milky Way beneath the desert sky is always a highlight, but around 2 AM, things got weird. Ryan spotted strange lights moving silently across the sky. UFOs? This writer can only hope... After some speculation and Ian's hypothesis and finally a capture that confirmed they were in fact not aliens... but satellites... Oh, well hello up there!
We left an earth-rotation timelapse running overnight on one of the trackers and curled up in our tents and campers beneath the junipers. A peaceful end to a wild first day.
Tip: Devil’s Garden is ideal for beginners in night photography. Bring a star tracker (if you have one) and a sturdy tripod and scout compositions before dark.
Day 2: Cowboy Caves, Dancing Echoes & Cottonwood Trees in Sandstone Bowls
Location: 50 Mile Bench and Dance Hall Rock
"You are a statue, you are stone, You are as solid as the rock you stand on" ~ Ian Lauer
We started the morning with “wakey wakey, eggs and bakey”, a cowboy egg scramble cooked under the open sky. With full bellies, we broke camp and headed deeper into Grand Staircase Escalante following the 50 Mile Bench.
Historically, the 50 Mile Bench is a rugged plateau that served as grazing land for cattle. Cowboys established line camps in the area to manage herds across this harsh terrain. The bench runs along the eastern edge of the Kaiparowits Plateau, bordered by the imposing Straight Cliffs that stand 2000ft tall.
As we traveled across this historic route, we followed a path carved by pioneers. In the winter 1879 Mormon settlers began the Hole-in-the-Rock expedition to reach southeastern Utah, completing the journey in April of 1880. They labored on a wagon road down the sandstone cliffs all the way to the Colorado River. Built by chiseling and blasting through a crevice known as Hole-in-the-Rock (creatively named of course) and eventually ferrying across the 300ft wide river before reaching their destination. Today, the upper portions of that route can still be explored by high-clearance vehicles.
Early photos of Hole-in-the-Rock from Utah Historical Society
After setting up camp and an early taco dinner, we made our way to Dance Hall Rock, another place in the area that is as interesting historically as it is visually. During their expedition, the Mormon pioneers paused here to rest and legend has it they even held dances in this natural amphitheater (hence the name) we, of course, paused for our obligatory playing of Creed and yes it did take us higher...
From a photography perspective, this area is challenging but rewarding. Giant potholes carved into the sandstone by millennia of wind and rain occasionally cradle cottonwood trees, a curious juxtaposition of desert and forest.
As the sun set, the clouds rolled in and didn't move out until the wee hours of the morning, but when they did the light from the Milky Way was so bright that as it appeared from behind the curtain of clouds, we all thought it was the moon at first, before realizing we were in fact in that dark of skies.
Fun fact: We (as in you and I) have the potential to see 2500 to 3000 stars in the northern hemisphere with just our eyeballs, and in a place like Grand Staircase-Escalante where light pollution is so low, it's a top notch place for stargazing and astrophotography.
Tip: Wide-angle lenses help capture the scale of Dance Hall Rock. Shoot during golden hour for warm light and long shadows. Don't be afraid to add the Human Element in here too, it shows scale.
Day 3: Hidden Arches, Glowing Sandstone & Lichen-Topped Foregrounds
Location: Red Rock Arches, near Coyote Gulch
"You have been visited by the shutter fairy" ~ Ryan Oswald
There’s something magical about finding a place that takes a little exploration to find. You typically won't find these arches in your guidebooks, which means we most often have the place all to ourselves. Day 3 led us to this exact pair of arches, reached only by a sandy walk through cactus, mormon tea and scrub. The first arch? A shape-shifter. Depending on where you stand, it might look like a dragon, a dolphin, a leaping fish, or a stegosaurus. A true treat for the imagination. As the sun set, light poured into the arch’s interior, setting the rock aglow.
But my favorite is always the second arch. Tucked just beyond the first, it sits lower and it's foreground is littered with black volcanic rocks speckled with lichen in vibrant hues of green, yellow and blue, like paint splatter on a natural canvas.
We stayed through twilight, capturing every last glow of astronomical blue, then returned to camp for lettuce-wrapped burgers.
Back at camp and well after dinner, Ian setup telescopes for everyone. The target... Rho Ophiuchi, this multiple star system in located in that can be found in the constellation Ophiuchus. This constellation shares the bright orange star Antares (aka the heart of the scorpion) with scorpio, just look to the right of the Milky Way to find it. This star system is actually embedded in the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex which I just learned is a stellar nursery where new stars form... how cool is that? Anyways it's the swirling dust and clouds coupled with the grouping of multi-colored stars that make this target so captivating.
Tip: When hiking in sand, mid-height boots help reduce fatigue. And always, always bring extra water, there’s no shade on this trek. In fact there's not a lot of shade on most of these hikes.
Day 4: Pizza Pit Stops, Pines & the Arch Discovered by Boy Scouts
Location: Hole-in-the-Rock Road → Johnson Canyon → Hidden Double Arch
"It's a Bortle 1, We're pratically in space" ~ Ian Lauer
Morning came with cooler temps and oatmeal with fresh fruit. After packing up, we drove down Hole-in-the-Rock Road, back towards what I suppose you could call civilization, making a quick but necessary stop at Escalante Outfitters, home of what I think is the best pizza in Utah (and carrot cake, too), it is an absolute necessity when in the area.
From there, the drive through Johnson Canyon was unforgettable. Sagebrush meadows gave way to red-and-white sandstone cliffs, the sky filled with fluffy clouds, and the gravel road crunched softly under our tires.
Our final campsite was tucked among tall junipers and pinyon pines, a spacious, shady haven worth marking on the map. That evening, we drove a narrow, sandy road to a stunning white sandstone arch. This double natural arch was actually discovered by a group of Boy Scouts during a backpacking trip. When viewed from the right angle, it resembles an worm or caterpillar crawling up the rocks.
We stayed until the first stars blinked awake, then returned to camp for a final dinner: fancy ramen as we like to call it, and stories under the stars. Spending the last night clicking away at different parts of the night sky.
Tip: White sandstone is highly reflective. Shoot just before sunset, just after sunrise or during blue hour for even exposures and richer color.
So Why is This Place a Must-Visit for Photographers? What's the Big Deal?
This vast region named for its massive sequence of sedimentary rock layers that resemble a natural staircase stretches from the depths of the Grand Canyon to the lofty cliffs of Bryce Canyon, with Utah's Escalante being one of the most remote and rugged regions in between, is both a scientific treasure trove and a sacred space for solitude and inspiration.
From fanciful hoodoos to arches that glow with inner fire, historical dance halls to silent starry nights, Grand Staircase-Escalante, Utah is more than a destination. It’s an invitation to slow down, explore, and see the world in layers of light, stone and time. This region of Utah delivers the magic.
The 62-mile Hole-in-the-Rock Road stretches from Escalante, UT to the former site of the Hole-in-the-Rock, now on the western shore of Lake Powell. Most of the road is passable with HIGH-CLEARANCE, two-wheel-drive vehicles, but the last few miles require four-wheel drive, especially after rain.
Want to Plan your own Adventure?
- Use apps like Gaia GPS or GPS Tracks to find your way back to your car
- Free / Dispersed camping is available along Hole-in-the-Rock Road
- Bring a lightweight setup for long hikes, mirrorless cameras and travel tripods are great options
Want to join our next Adventure?
September 16-21, 2025
Gear up for an overland photo adventure into the heart of the Bisti Badlands. Over six unforgettable days, you’ll:
Explore sacred Navajo country with a local guide
Capture iconic sandstone formations during that perfect golden hour and blue hour light
Camp under pure, dark skies for Milky Way photography
This isn’t just a workshop, it’s an immersive Southwest adventure you’ll be talking about for years.
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