Grand Canyon-Parashant
A million acres with no paved roads, no visitor center, and no crowds — the wildest public land in the lower 48.
The Monument That Keeps Its Distance
Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument sprawls across the heart of the Arizona Strip — a landscape of volcanic tablelands, hidden canyons, and Joshua tree flats jointly managed by the National Park Service and the BLM. It is one of the most remote protected areas in the contiguous United States: no paved roads cross it, no visitor center sits inside it, and most of it sees more bighorn sheep than people.
That emptiness is the point. The Parashant preserves the Strip as it has always been — a place you must prepare for, not a place that prepares for you.
Into the Parashant
Highlights reward the self-sufficient: the historic Mount Trumbull schoolhouse on the old settlers' loop, the Nampaweap petroglyph site with thousands of ancient images pecked into basalt, and Whitmore Canyon, where a backcountry road descends astonishingly close to the Colorado River.
Travel here is expedition-style: high-clearance vehicles, real spare tires, paper maps, and extra fuel and water are the baseline. Information and current conditions come from the interagency office in St. George — start with the official monument page.
The monument wraps around Mount Trumbull and borders the Toroweap country, so ambitious backcountry itineraries often combine all three.
Earn the Empty Country
Prepared travelers find the Strip's deepest solitude here.