We came to Torrey, UT to see two national parks nearby, Capital Reef and Grand Staircase/Escalante. The Grand Staircase/Escalante park is named for the bands of color on one very long cliff within the park. The bands make it look like a staircase. The Escalante part of the park is an ancient sand dune area that was compressed into rock millions of years ago, and as the river cut through it and the dirt eroded from the wind, strange and interesting shapes appeared.

We drove through the Escalante region and found the geology fascinating. The ancient sand dunes eroded into swirls, bands, domes and other weird shapes. It was very pretty.

Here are pictures we took of our drive through Escalante: