The Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument is a National Monument in the US state of Utah, one which protects the Grand Staircase, the Kaiparowits Plateau, and the Canyons of the Escalante (Escalante River) in southern area of Utah. It was established in 1996 by President Bill Clinton under the authority of the Antiquities Act with 1.7 million acres of land, later expanded to 1,880,461 acres (7,610 km2).[3] In 2017, the monument's size was reduced by half in a succeeding presidential proclamation, and it was restored in 2021.[1][4] The land is among the most remote in the country; it was the last to be mapped in the contiguous United States.[5]

In 1871, this area was parkt of the very last uncharted territory in the continental United States. However, that would not stay that way for long because Major John Wesley Powell launched what has come to be called The Second Powell Expedition to explore and map this frontier, an expedition to continue what he had begun just three years earlier. Major Powell led his expedition safely through the wild waters of the Green and Colorado rivers to the Paria river. Then he directed his brother-in-law A. H. Thompson to lead the expedition overland to map what they called the unknown country.

The very next year, the expedition climbed the slippery slopes of the badlands, then Thompson scaled the brilliant pink formations in order to view and map the surrounding country. This task of mapping the unknown country took another four years before the blank space on the map of the United States could be completed.

Utah State Highway 12, also called the Journey Through Time Scenic Byway, follows the exact route of the Second Powell Expedition from Henrieville all the way to the Head of the Rocks east of Escalante. This scenic byway has been designated as an All American Road by the US Department of Transportation that has one or more of the six qualifying qualities.