Blogs from Cedar Breaks National Monument, Utah, United States, North America

The Joys of Camping For three days and two nights we enjoyed the cool air of Utah’s Cedar Breaks National Monument. We picked this area of Utah for a couple reasons. First, the weather. Escaping Las Vegas’ weekend high of 104 degrees for the cool mountain air and near-freezing temps at night was probably one of our best ideas ever. In fact, the weekend before, the whole area was blanketed in snow. Second, Cedar Breaks isn’t the most popular spot in southwestern Utah to visit, so we weren’t going to have to fight the massive crowds that congregate at Zion or Bryce Canyon. Our campsite at Cedar Canyon Campground was fantastic, with lots of trees, no direct neighbors, and a little stream at the back of the campsite. It was a completely relaxing weekend. The ... read more

Day 32 Part 1: Glendale, UT to Jacob Lake, AZ We left the campground at Glendale and headed north to see Cedar Breaks NM. Turns out that it is a miniature Bryce NP !!! Just as spectacular and colorful, just smaller and perhaps a little higher in elevation. We had crystal clear skies and nice cool temperatures. The road up to the park climbed about 5000 feet with lots of curves. We drove past a couple of significant lava flows - - what a stark terrain they make. After we left Cedar breaks, we back tracked to US 89 and headed south to Jacob Lake which is about 30 miles north of the entrance to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. We arrived, having made reservations at the only campground - - good thing we ... read more

CAPITOL REEF NP THROUGH CEDAR BREAKS NATIONAL MONUMENT, UT TO NORTH RIM OF THE GRAND CANYON, AZ Tuesday, May 15th Fruita Campground. Blue skies and 60 degrees at 9:15 this morning. Starting mileage is 25,847. Our plans for today’s travels are to follow several scenic byways around and through the Dixie National Forest. Leaving Capitol Reef on highway 24, we turned due south on highway 12 just east of the town of Torrey. Almost immediately, we started a long climb up Boulder Mountain through an aspen and pine forest. Many vacation homes are along this stretch of road. We climbed to 9,600 feet and saw several campgrounds that would be a nice place to camp, but they were not open yet and had closed gates across the entrance roads. After the going through the town of ... read more

Located close to I-15 near Cedar City, Cedar Breaks National Monument contains a steep, bowl-shaped cliff face eroded into the west side of the Markagunt Plateau, similar to Bryce Canyon National Park (though much less visited), with colorful strata and many strange rock shapes. The access road (UT 148) circles the cliff edge from which the spectacular limestone formations can be seen, extending 2,000 feet downwards and 3 miles across, all eroded from the Claron Formation of the Pink Cliffs - the highest and most geologically recent component of the great series of escarpments that stretches eastwards across south Utah, known as the Grand Staircase. Some areas of the cliffs are even more brightly colored than at Bryce Canyon Cedar Breaks National Monument can be reached from four directions. In the north, UT 143 climbs quite ... read more

There is just so much to see in southern Utah. There are the famous national parks, then there are the state parks which could easily be national parks, and then there are the national monuments and other sites. One of those is the Cedar Breaks National Monument. Located north of Zion National Park, it's a little out of the way and I suspect often overlooked as a result with all the other things to see and do in this part of Utah. Cedar Breaks is located in a volcano flow. You actually drive through it. You start out on a scenic drive where you keep going up and up until you eventually reach over 10,000 feet in elevation. As you're driving the trees become more prevalent and then you start to notice large chunks of black ... read more