One of the nicest surprises we found Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument was the Devil’s Garden. This is a picnic area that has a wonderful space to explore. You can find Devil’s Garden just twelve miles down Hole-in-the-Rock Road east of the town of Escalante.
You will pass this sign about 1/4 mile before the parking area.
Devil’s Garden is a lot like Goblin Valley. There are hoodoos, windows, arches, and lots of red rocks to play in. At the end of the turnoff for Devil’s Garden there is a large parking area with picnic tables. The “garden” is located right next to the parking area.
This is one of the picnic tables near Devil’s Garden.
Our boys enjoyed exploring and climbing on the sandstone formations. You can walk right up the slick rock onto most of the rocks and climb in and through a lot of the formations. It wasn’t long before a game of hide-and-seek broke out. This area is surprisingly large, and their are no set trails, so feel free to roam and explore for as long as you’d like. We spent over an hour here, and only walked about 1/2 mile.
The slick rock is easy to climb in most places.
Our boys loved exploring and finding things.
We saw a bunch of lizards all over.
Even Dad climbed up into little places.
We loved peeking through the different openings to see what was on the other side.
Devil’s Garden has two arches: one skinny and one fat. You can walk underneath both of them. So make sure to search until you find both the arches. They are both big enough to spot pretty easily. We also found several nooks and crannies where the boys wanted to pose for pictures. We have a lot of pictures from this area!
This is the first arch we found.
You can walk right underneath it.
This is the second arch–it’s way thicker.
We loved that we could sit underneath the arches for pictures.
Devil’s Garden is the perfect place to visit in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument for any family. No matter your hiking skill level, anyone can easily explore and have fun adventuring in the Devil’s Garden.
The boys were very adventurous about crawling through any open spaces.
It’s the perfect place for hide and seek.
Devil’s Garden is a great stop along Hole-in-the-Rock Road.
Directions: Drive 12 miles on Hole in the Rock Road. Turn right onto a dirt road (there is a sign that says Devil’s Garden). Follow this road for 1.5 miles until you come to the parking area.
