Since that fateful day, we’ve been fueling our road trip dreams on the mere memory of the time we spent there. Our family has embarked on back road journeys all over America, but we happened upon Scenic Byway 12 in Utah by accident. If you are looking for a unique road trip that features enchanting national parks, great camping, and endless opportunities for outdoor adventures, stop what you’re doing and plan a Highway 12 road trip through southern Utah. Welcome to Highway 12 in Utah, 123 miles of the most stunningly beautiful landscape in the Southwest. Roadside signs identify several of these sites as you drive north to Rangely.Pillars of enchanting red rocks. The highway passes through Canyon Pintado National Historic District, a “painted canyon” with more then 200 Native American pictograph and petroglyph sites. 139, which climbs to excellent views at 8,240-foot Douglas Pass. The loop returns to its start along Colo. Get an overview of the park along 23-mile Rim Rock Drive, a paved road with overlooks and interpretive areas offering far-reaching panoramas. 340) and view past excavations of several important dinosaur finds.įruita is the western gateway to Colorado National Monument, with its gorges and monoliths. After your museum visit, drive to Dinosaur Hill (1 mile south on Colo.
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Many formations can be seen from park roads, especially in the Windows area.Īfter Arches you can visit Moab, famed as a center of outdoor activities in this red-rock country, or pick up the Colorado River Scenic Byway. Over the state line, stop in Fruita to visit the Dinosaur Journey Museum, full of robotic dinosaur models, fossils, interactive displays, and dino-themed exhibits. More than 2,000 natural arches are here, as well as buttes, spires, and a vast variety of other shapes. Just before you reach Moab on 191, you’ll find Arches National Park, the premier showcase of the rock formations that have made this region famous.
Your next side trip off US 191 might be on Utah 313 to the Needles section of Canyonlands National Park where you can catch a glimpse of the Green River before it joins the Colorado. In about 15 miles, turn west on Mill Canyon Road (impassable after rain) to reach the Mill Canyon Dinosaur Trail. Go east 25 miles and continue south on US 191. Follow signs to Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, which has the most concentrated collection of Jurassic-era dinosaur bones known anywhere.īack in Price, the loop heads southeast for 60 miles through rolling terrain and washes to meet I-70. From Price drive south on Utah 10 for 12 miles to Utah 155 and turn east to Elmo and Cleveland. The Utah State University Eastern Prehistoric Museum displays fossil dinosaurs and a cast of a mammoth skeleton.įor more dinosaurs, take a short side trip off the main loop. The route follows the Price River to Price-another must-stop for dinosaur buffs. The Western Mining and Railroad Museum has exhibits on coal mining and railroads. Cliffs rise steeply beside the road as it climbs into coniferous forest at 9,100-foot Indian Creek Pass and then heads down to the small town of Helper. Vernal is also the headquarters for the Ashley National Forest, through which the route passes as US 191 heads west and south into Indian Canyon. The museum itself is full of dinosaur skeletons and exhibits. In the Dinosaur Garden outside the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum are 18 life-size models, including the predator called Utahraptor, discovered in 1991. At the visitor center here you can see thousands of fossils of many species of dinosaurs. You may want to head straight for the national monument’s Dinosaur Quarry north of Jensen, Utah.
A 31-mile scenic drive starts at the park visitor center and winds north to Harpers Corner, near where the Green and Yampa Rivers meet.
Unauthorized use is prohibited.īefore visiting Dinosaur National Monument, begin your trip just over the Colorado state line near the town of Dinosaur.
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