Help beautify Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
Update: This event is full and there is currently a waitlist. See other available trips
Join us Oct 3-6, 2025 to help take care of our public lands in southern Utah.
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument encompasses 1.8 million acres of desert canyons, colorful cliffs, and forested plateaus in southern Utah. Cultural sites, geologic marvels, and diverse plant and animal life abound.
Unfortunately, some areas of the monument have been highly impacted by human activity. We need hearty hikers to help remove large pieces of plastic in a remote part of Grand Staircase-Escalante. We will hike up to eight miles per day with about 1,000 feet of elevation gain and loss to retrieve the refuse and haul it back for proper disposal.
Location Utah
Contact Volunteer Program
Open to Everyone
Trip Rating Difficult
Topics Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Habitat Restoration
Who can sign up?
Many of our trips are family friendly! Please see our FAQs for more information or email us with questions about particular trips.
Membership is optional, but we ask that participants who are comfortable financially become members of the Grand Canyon Trust with a $25 donation. Members receive a subscription to our biannual print magazine, The Advocate. Please contact us if you have any questions. You’ll also need to submit your volunteer application form to secure your spot on the trip.
Note: Due to uncertainties and staffing interruptions in federal agencies, we cannot guarantee that all of our projects will move forward as scheduled. As we learn more, we’ll keep you updated. Thanks for your understanding and patience.
What to expect
We’ll fuel up with coffee and breakfast in the mornings and spend our days hiking and hauling loads of plastic. There will be snack breaks, delicious lunches, and time to enjoy the stunning scenery along the way. We’ll return to camp in the evenings for free time, appetizers, dinner, and excellent conversation.
We’ll hear from Grand Canyon Trust staff about the importance of our hard work for this unique landscape. On the last day of the trip, we’ll break for camp, pack up, and head home.
This trip is rated as difficult
Accommodations
We will have a car-camping style base camp near the trailhead to our project site. The Trust will provide water, a full camp kitchen, and camp toilet.
The Trust provides: All meals, snacks, field equipment, tools, and training.
Participants provide: Personal transportation to the site (high clearance 4WD vehicles required but there will be carpooling opportunities), individual camping gear, coffee mug, lunch container, work clothes, a large backpack, wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses, rain gear, and clothes for warm days and cold nights. Please come prepared.
How to sign up:
- Select “SIGN UP,” and follow the prompts.
- Check your email for further instructions.
- Send in your volunteer application form for the year.
- Become a member of the Grand Canyon Trust.
- A Trust trip leader will confirm your spot.
Questions? Email volunteernow@grandcanyontrust.org
Trip packing list
Our gear list will help you prepare. We can loan some items on a first-come, first-served basis. Contact us for details.
Frequently asked questions
Curious about logistics, the food you'll eat during the trip, or the difficulty of the field work? Check out the frequently asked questions.
7 perks of volunteering with the Trust
When you volunteer with the Trust, we make it worth your while. From eating good food, to learning new skills. Find out the perks of volunteering.
Public health considerations on volunteer trips
Our top priority is the safety and comfort of our trip participants. Precautionary measures that will be followed on trips to avoid the spread of communicable diseases will be communicated in pre-trip emails. If we feel that a trip cannot be safely conducted due to public health conditions, or for any other reason, we will cancel the trip with as much notice as possible. Volunteers or participants may reach out to volunteernow@grandcanyontrust.org with any questions.
The Grand Canyon Trust is committed to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion at every level of our work. The conservation field and the Colorado Plateau have their own histories of racial injustice and exclusion and as a largely white organization, we know we have work to do. We are actively working to make the conservation field and the Colorado Plateau more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive. Read the Grand Canyon Trust’s justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion statement
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