Dean M. Chriss
Photography
Metate Arch, Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument

Exquisite Arch #1, Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument

(Click image to enlarge)

There are many arches larger than this one, but few are more beautiful. Passing under it leads one into a fantasy land of sculpted stone in Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument.

We try not to disclose out of the way locations like these online more specifically because it brings thousands of people who trample the place into oblivion. There are no trails here, and people wander aimlessly, killing plants and crushing cryptobiotic soil crusts that control erosion and take decades to regenerate. In this place is also a Wilderness Study Area, and especially sensitive. It is also worth pointing out that climbing on or over the natural arches is illegal in all national parks and monuments because in the long term it destroys the features for everyone.