About this place
Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument covers more than one million acres, and there is no counting what is in it.
Deep canyons, mountains and lonely buttes show you what geological force can do, and the colors go on for miles.
The monument takes in the lower part of the Shivwits Plateau, an important watershed for the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon.
The plants run from Mojave Desert species right up to ponderosa pine forest.
Mule deer, bighorn sheep, wild turkey and four kinds of rattlesnake all live here.
Two agencies run this monument between them. The National Park Service is one. The Bureau of Land Management is the other.
For a scientist this place is a treasure. The landscape has been left relatively undeformed, and little vegetation hides it. The geologic history of the Colorado Plateau is laid out plainly.
Two geologic provinces meet here, the Basin and Range and the Colorado Plateau. So do two ecoregions, the Mojave Desert and the Colorado Plateau.
Those overlaps are why the ecological diversity here is astonishing.
People come for scenic four-wheel-drive travel, walking, horse riding, camping, watching wildlife and plants, birdwatching, hunting, archeological and historic sites, and looking at the geology.
Then the sun goes down and the second show starts. This is the Parashant International Night Sky Province, named for skies that nothing has spoiled.
It is one of the best places on earth to look at stars and planets. Bring a telescope, or just open your eyes.
Plan this visit properly before you set off. Get the right equipment, the right maps and some knowledge of the region.
The hazards are unmarked rugged roads, venomous animals, extreme heat and flash floods.
Bring plenty of water, food, extra gasoline and at least two spare tires. A high clearance vehicle is what you want.
Road conditions change with the weather, so call ahead before you come.
Always carry extra water, food, matches or a lighter, a signal mirror and foul weather gear.
Technology makes backcountry travel more comfortable, but cell phones, radios and GPS units may not work over large areas. Carry a detailed map and find your way with that.
Conditions change with the season and often change suddenly. This landscape is beautiful and it forgives nothing.
You may meet an unexpected snowstorm, a flash flood or a lightning storm. You may find an impassable road, extreme heat or cold, a water source dried up, or high water from flooding.
There is no first aid station and there are no services. The nearest hospital, food and supplies are all in St. George, Utah.
What is written here is no substitute for calling in at the interagency Public Lands Information Center. Go there to buy the Arizona Strip Visitor Map and to get current detail on roads, routes and weather.
The facts
- Cost
- Free to camp
- Roads around it
- Rugged and often unmarked. High clearance advised
- Drinking water
- No, bring your own
- Phone signal
- Cell phones, radios and GPS units may not work
- Type
- Open area. Camp anywhere within it
- Managed by
- Bureau of Land Management
The roads around this place are not maintained for a regular car. That comes from the Bureau of Land Management, who record the kind of vehicle that uses each route. Those records cover the roads nearby. They do not cover the last stretch in to the campsite, and nobody has checked that part. Treat this as a warning. We are not promising what you will find when you get there. If you have driven it, tell us what it was like and we will say so here.
Getting there
The Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument lies 30 miles southwest of St. George, Utah. From St. George, take River Road south to the Arizona and Utah border. BLM Road 1069 then leads to several ways in.
This is remote country and hard going, both to reach and to drive through. Pick up a map at the interagency Public Lands Center in St. George before you set off.
Coordinates 36.362, -113.636
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
Nothing is close to this one. Everything below is a long drive away, and each line says how far.
- Paiute Wilderness Directions
Every distance on this page is the driving distance. A short distance can still take a long time. The road may be closed for the season, covered in snow, or washed out. Many of these roads are dirt. Plan your route before you leave home. Out here there is often no phone signal to look it up on the way.
Nearest town and supplies
- Scenic, AZ Directions
Scenic is big enough that you’d normally expect fuel and somewhere to buy food. Nobody from here has been to check, so don’t count on it if you’re running low.
Have you been here?
Fees and access change, and the records do not always keep up. If you have been, tell us what you found.
Thank you, that is recorded. It helps the next person.
Add road notes for this site
The thing we cannot get from any government record is what the drive in is actually like. If you have done it, this is the most useful thing you can leave behind. We read everything before it appears, and we print a first name with it if you give one.
Thank you. A person will read it before it goes on the page.
Where this information comes from
The description on this page is ours. The facts in it, and the fee and facility details below it, come from the Bureau of Land Management’s own records, read in August 2026.