The Most Underrated and (Usually) Crowd-Free National Monuments in the West

Devil’s Postpile National Monument (California)

Photo: /Shutterstock

The Sierras are loaded with jaw-dropping parks and towering rock features. Which makes it surprising that while Yosemite National Park drew 4.2 million visitors in 2025, Devil’s Postpile National Monument — just over an hour south — drew just under 100,000 visitors the same year. At first, the “postpile” itself looks like the falling remnants of a fence commissioned by the ultimate society-hating mountain man, firmly securing his isolation from the world. When you stop to realize that it’s a natural occurrence and that these 60-foot-tall basalt columns somehow formed because of this place, well, it’s safe to say you won’t be thinking about Half Dome anymore that day.

While there, check out the 101-foot-tall Rainbow Falls, accessed via a 5-mile round-trip hike. Hike into the Ansel Adams wilderness or to the Minaret Falls adjacent to the monument grounds. Or, if ski touring is your thing and it happens to be winter, you can actually ski in and out of the monument via what’s called a “skin trail,” carved by uphill-ready skis slushing through the snow.

While the monument is hardly as busy as Yosemite, it does have parking restrictions in the summer, and day visitors will probably need to take the shuttle from nearby Mammoth Lakes.

Grand Staircase-Escalante, Bears Ears, and Vermillion Cliffs National Monuments (Utah and Arizona)

Photo: Halie West/Unsplash

Visiting Grand Staircase-Escalante or Bears Ears National Monument is still one of the clearest ways to stand up for conservation on the ground, but the political story has shifted from boundary cuts to an ongoing fight over management. President Biden restored cuts to both monuments directed by Donald Trump in his first term, but his return to office has coincided with Congressional efforts to remove Biden‑era protections and return to looser, resource-extraction‑focused plans.

But for now, the monuments remain in place. On the ground, the slot canyons, hiking trails, and rock features inside these restored borders remain as stark and intricate as anything in Canyonlands National Park, from the 2.6‑mile approach to Zebra Slot Canyon in Grand Staircase‑Escalante to the ruin‑lined drainages and petroglyph panels in Bears Ears, where tribal coalitions are still pushing for a meaningful role in day‑to‑day management despite the policy whiplash in Washington.

If you want to disappear even further, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument remains one of the best place to do so outside of Alaska. It has 280,000 acres of rock‑lined valleys, buttes, and plateaus between Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Kaibab National Forest, with no visitor center and very little formal infrastructure. Here, the Wave and the surrounding Coyote Buttes are now tightly rationed through an all‑digital lottery on Recreation.gov, with a fixed daily cap split between advance and short‑term lotteries, while Paria Canyon overnights are quota‑limited and need to be reserved as far in advance as possible.

Colorado National Monument (Colorado)

Photo: Colorado National Monument/Thomlinson/Public Domain

For the more hardline conservationist, few places carry as much weight as Edward Abbey’s old stomping grounds, Arches National Park. Hiking through Devil’s Garden is undeniably impressive, but readers of Desert Solitaire are quick to point out the irony: the paved road leading to today’s crowded trailhead is exactly the kind of development Abbey fought against. In his writing, he warned that roads and easy access would bring “industrial tourism” to the desert. Ultimately, that’s exactly what happened.

Add in summer temperatures that regularly feel well beyond “hot as hell,” and Arches can lose some of the solitude Abbey valued. But about two hours east, Colorado National Monument offers a quieter alternative. Monument Canyon has dramatic sandstone towers and cliffs, but with far fewer crowds, and on many trails, you can find excellent views without committing to a long hike. Should you wish to spend more time out of the car, try the Liberty Cap or Devil’s Kitchen trails — bonus if you do them during sunrise or sunset.

Western Colorado is also quite toasty from July to mid-September, but it’s at a higher elevation and usually cooler than Moab. And, as the photo above shows, Colorado National Monument is one of the most photogenic spots in the country.

Upper Missouri River Breaks and Pompeys Pillar National Monuments (Montana)

Photo: Danita Delimont/Shutterstock

Glacier National Park and the big-mountain terrain of Big Sky Resort are all the proof you need that Montana is an outdoors person’s dream. That’s not even taking into consideration Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, which protects a rugged stretch of badlands and river corridor with opportunities for floating, fishing, hunting, and wildlife viewing. The area also traces parts of both the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and the Nez Perce National Historic Trail.

Further south, Pompeys Pillar National Monument, named after Sacagawea’s son, centers on a sandstone outcrop along the Yellowstone River. You’ll find Native American petroglyphs and the only remaining physical evidence of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: William Clark’s signature carved into the rock in 1806. The site is small, so an afternoon is plenty of time to visit.

San Juan Islands National Monument (Washington)

Photo: Alisha Bube/Shutterstock

San Juan Islands National Monument protects a collection of scenic sites scattered across the San Juan Islands, an archipelago of more than 450 islands in Washington’s Puget Sound. Rather than one continuous park, the monument is made up of dozens of smaller sections, many of which are accessible by boat or short hikes. For camping, hit up Blind Island, and to hike, try the Iceberg Point Trail on Lopez Island or trails on San Juan Island itself. Cattle Point is the place to gaze at the Strait of Juan de Fuca and out across the sound, where windswept bluffs meet the water. Kayaking through the islands is practically a rite of passage for outdoorsy visitors, as it’s one of the best ways to experience the monument’s more remote sites.