Upper Valley Granaries

The Upper Valley Granaries are among the more accessible examples of Ancestral Puebloan architecture along the Scenic Byway 12 corridor. Tucked into a rocky ledge above the Escalante watershed, these small stone-and-mud structures were built roughly 700 years ago to store corn and other harvests — and they remain surprisingly intact today. The site is managed by the BLM as part of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

What You See

The granaries are perched on a cliff ledge in a way that makes them hard to spot at first — the builders chose the site precisely because the stone blends with the surrounding rock. A viewing tube at the wayside helps direct your eye to the structures, which you'd likely miss without it. The construction technique is a classic Ancestral Puebloan approach: small stone blocks set with mud mortar, sized to hold food stores rather than people. Interpretive signage explains the site's context within the broader landscape of prehistoric settlement in the Escalante River drainage.

Getting There and Visiting

The site is a roadside wayside — no long hike required to reach the viewing area. It sits along Scenic Byway 12 in the Escalante area, making it an easy stop on a drive through the monument. No fee and no permit are needed to visit the wayside itself. The nearby Escalante Interagency Visitor Center in Escalante can provide maps and current conditions for the broader monument area if you want to extend your visit to nearby trails.

Context

The Escalante River drainage holds dozens of similar sites — granaries, dwellings, and rock art panels — left by the people who farmed this high desert roughly 700 to 1,000 years ago. The Upper Valley Granaries are a quick, rewarding introduction to that history for travelers passing through on Byway 12.