Cowpuncher Guard Station

About forestry service, 84744, Koosharem, UT, US, Utah

Escalante (locally ) is a city in central Garfield County, Utah, United States, located along Utah Scenic Byway 12 (SR-12) in the south-central part of the state. As of the 2020 census, 786 people were living in the city. The city is named after Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, a Franciscan missionary and a member of the first European expedition into what is now southern Utah. The nearest towns are Boulder which is 27 miles (43 km) to the northeast on SR-12, and Henrieville, which is 30 miles (48 km) to the southwest on SR-12. The Escalante Petrified Forest State Park is located west of the city. Sections of the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument (GSENM) abut much of the city's limits. The Hole-in-the-Rock Road, which begins 5 mi (8.0 km) east of Escalante, is the main access road into the eastern section of GSENM. The road leads to the Canyons of the Escalante, the Devils Garden and the Hole-in-the-Rock. == History == In 1776, Silvestre Vélez de Escalante and Francisco Atanasio Domínguez left Santa Fe, New Mexico attempting to find a route to the missions of California. The Dominguez–Escalante Expedition followed a route north through western Colorado, west across central Utah, and then southwest through what is now called the Escalante Desert, finally circling back to the east after reaching Arizona near the north rim of the Grand Canyon. They returned to Santa Fe having never entered California or the areas near the city of Escalante.