I was looking for a campsite down south
for fall break and came across a quote that went something like this:
“The great tragedy of Utah driving is
that there are so few options going north or south.”
Of course, I didn't think much of it at
the time and didn't write it down. I don't remember who wrote it, but
I kept thinking “he's right, he's so right!” It's too easy to
stay on the highways to get anywhere in Utah. Sometimes it's worth it
to take a road to nowhere though. Let us compare and contrast:
 |
[This is what it looks like if I want to
go north.
It is two straight hours of billboards.]
|
 |
| [This is what it looks like if I want to go west. We live by Utah Lake.] |
 |
[This is south. Another hour of billboards.]
|
 |
| [This is east. I was looking for a town called Indianola, and ended up following this road for fun. Sky High Peak is in the distance.] |
We don't have country roads here, but
if you take a random exit now and then, you can find some pretty
awesome mountain roads. Here are just a few that I've found (mostly
on Sunday drives):
If you're up north in the Logan area,Logan Canyon to Bear Lake is beautiful.
Driving around Antelope Island and
watching the Buffalo is always cool.
The Cottonwood Canyons are amazing.
Squaw Peak Road is fun. Even though
it's dirt, it's fine as long as it's dry.
Alpine Loop is beautiful in the fall.
Nebo Loop is a National Scenic Byway.
Besides beautiful fall colors, you can see some fun rock spires.
Skyline Drive is rarely traveled and
noteworthy just for its isolation (there is also another Skyline Drive up Farmington Canyon). Watch out for cows.
I've driven part of the Trail of the Ancients down south. I loved how the land looks flat, then you drop
down the side of the mesa and realize it was just a flat topped
mountain.
And if you live by any of the National
or State Parks, most of them are amazing to drive through.
So get off the highway, slow down, and
explore! (Check out the links in the names for directions.)
It's so true. I've lived in Utah most of my life and still want to take some of these drives. Having spent 18 years in Cache valley I love the canyon. I've never taken the Bristle Cone Pine trail. Been up there a lot with scouts, snow cave camping; X-country skiing, etc. There is also a nice mountain road from Paradise (south of Hyrum) south to Eden (I liked visiting the monastery east of Eden - they sell homemade bread and flavored honey). There's also a cool drive east from Mantua (Willard Park Road). It's almost a 4 wheeler though I've done it in smaller cars. It will take you up to the peak of the range looking over the GSL. So many more..
ReplyDeleteI've never driven the road south from Paradise, but I've heard it's worth doing. And a monastery?! So cool. We were up in Logan for General Conference weekend and you can see the road going into the mountains above Mantua from the highway. I've always wanted to take it, so I made Mark and our car full of whiny kids try it out for almost an hour. It got dark though and we had to turn around, but it was amazing.
ReplyDeleteGuy and I drove Skyline Drive from Fairview south to Joe's Valley. The first hour and a half were fine, but the next 4 hours were the most awful of my life! The road was really meant for four wheelers not a full size truck. The ruts in the road just about killed me. We had to take it so slow and the bounciness just about did me in. There was a cool boulder field along the drive that we let the kids explore, but that was the only highlight of a very long drive.
ReplyDeleteFive and a half hours! That's long. We passed the turnoff for Skyline doing Energy Loop, and there were a bunch of four wheeler trailers parked there. I'm glad we didn't try it in the rain.
ReplyDelete