Blogs from Utah, United States, North America

Last summer (2018) we did it: we drove from Los Angeles to Williamsburg, Virginia. Like an old country tune, or perhaps 1960s SITCOM open (See Beverly Hillbillies if you're still guessing), we loaded the family of six, complete with dog and cat, and hit the road. Triple digits screamed from the vehicle thermostat, and three stations cycled on the FM dial (or whatever the modern equivalent is to the "dial"). Once we outpaced the city traffic and cruised the Vegas strip, family-style, we entered an alien landscape carved and painted by years of erosion and geological transformation: Utah. Driving by way of Interstate 15, we wove and wound through valleys of orange and red sand shaped in the most amazing formations. Like cloud-gazing, it was fun to imagine donuts, dogs, lions, and more while craning in ... read more

About three miles West of Utah 63 (Bryce Canyon NP) on Utah 12; I turned Southbound on FS 087 (the primary road across the Paunsaugunt Plateau) of the Dixie N Forest.I drove to the second crossing of FS 088 to make my camp for the night. I cooked my dinner and watched a nice sunset. Then I watched the moon rise. I got on my bed and had a nice sleep for the night. The next morning I had a nice coffee break. Then it was time to drive across the Paunsaugunt Plateau. Back on FS 087 Southbound I quickly got to the nice Tropic Reservoir. There was time to enjoy the views of the lake and shoot a few pics. On the South side of the reservoir there was the Tropic Spring open free to ... read more

From Boulder, Utah (on Utah 12) to the West end of Utah 12 (at the tiny town of Red Canyon City) at the US Hwy 89 junction, is considered the Northern limits of the the Grand Staircase of Escalante National Monument (NPS). The Southern limits is the Colorado River System and the Arizona State line. While the Eastern limits of Grand Staircase is the Escalante River, with the Western limits is US Hwy 89. This would include the entire Calf Creek Canyon with the Escalante River SE to the Colorado River system at the center of Lake Powell. Also included is the Straight Cliffs of the "50 Mile Mountain", The Kaiparowits Plateau, Kotochrome Basin, the Paria River, and the Paunsaugunt Plateau that is owned and managed by Bryce Canyon N Park and the Dixie N Forest. ... read more

Just two miles West of Boulder, Utah, Forest Service road 153 rides around the large Box-Death Hollow. This is where about twenty five square miles of the Plateau has slid downhill long ago exposing up to an 800 foot depression with exposed cliffs, including Devils Backbone in the Northern tip of the slide. I made the circle from the Boulder on the East around Box-Death Hollow and South to Escalante, Utah. The road starts out paved; but after a few miles turns into dirt by the left turn for the Native American restaurant. Then the dirt road goes continually uphill to and past Devils Backbone. The scrub junipers turn into a Ponderosa Pine forest as I gain altitude. In the pine forest Box-Death Hollow is somewhat visible to the left (West); but the best views of ... read more

I drove the Utah scenic Hwy 24 from Hanksville to Torrey to see the Capitol Reef NPS (National Park Service) and to set me up for my camp in the Boulder Mountains. For most of the ride on Utah 24 up to the top of Capitol Reef NPS the hwy followed the Fremont River; but mostly hidden from my pics with its nearby vegetation. From Hanksville there was interesting geology, then the Fremont River formed a nice canyon. This was a nice uphill drive up the Fremont River Canyon. Then I entered Capitol Reef NPS and there was not the usual fee collection nor the handout pages of silly NPS rules. The Fremont River Canyon got taller with more vegetation. Then I got to the defunked Mormon town of Fruita with several miles of a real ... read more