Utah: Road trips, a tourist’s delight
Utah, a state in the Western United States, is known for its roads. The roads wind through the Mighty Five® national parks, 15 ski resorts, seven national forests, 44 state parks and more one-of-a-kind towns that you would like to visit. Each journey is a photographer’s paradise, a hiker’s nirvana, a Western historian’s feast, and a geologist’s dream.
The geographic size of Utah might seem daunting, but time on the road passes quickly when new discoveries punctuate each mile travelled. With interstates and airplanes, the world can feel pretty small. On Utah’s designated scenic byways, the world feels grand; its horizons seem infinite.
In total, Utah’s distinct topography provides the surface for 28 scenic byways, which add up to hundreds of miles of vivid travel experiences wherein the road trip is as memorable as the destination. All of Utah’s scenic byways are explorative journeys filled with trailheads, scenic overlooks, museums, local flavours and vibrant communities where you can stop for the night or hook up your RV.
Utah’s State Route 12
Sometimes you find yourself on a road that you can sense is something truly special. It is not just the landscapes, though you can't take your eyes off them. It is something about the byway itself, though it's not just the quality of its surface. There's something in the engineering — the vertiginous "Hogsback" stretch comes to mind — and in the thoughtful lay of the road. The way the road connects with the land, feels somehow a part of the landscape, embedded in the slickrock. It virtually becomes part of the ecosystem. Utah’s State Route 12 is such a road.
Bryce Canyon National Park
An alpine forest with as many red rock hoodoos as trees. At dawn and dusk, mule deer graze the forested plateau along the road into Bryce Canyon. The alpine environment is home to dozens of species of mammals and birds, all acquainted with a spectacular truth: this is no ordinary forest. Water and wind over millions of years of freezes and thaws, have carved into the plateau endless fields of distinctive red rock pillars, called hoodoos, as well as into the park's series of natural amphitheaters. And because Bryce Canyon National Park is at an elevation of 8,000 to 9,000 feet, there are even opportunities for winter sports like snowshoeing and skiing.
Kodachrome Basin State Park
If ever a state park was made to be photographed, it is Kodachrome Basin State Park. The state park covers 2,240 acres of canyon country and is surrounded by the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument on three sides. With its close proximity to other popular destinations down Cottonwood Road, it makes for a spectacular basecamp or a stop on an event-filled day in the desert with friends.
Henrieville-Cannonville-Tropic Get to know the welcoming people who live among the unparalleled natural beauty of Bryce Canyon, Kodachrome Basin and the Grand Staircase.
Calf Creek Recreation Area
Calf Creek Recreation Area is a premier stop along Scenic Byway 12 in Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument. Lower Calf Creek Falls Trail is an almost 6-mile moderately strenuous round-trip hike to a stunning 126foot waterfall.