U.S. 89 separates from I-15 near the southern end of the Wasatch Front at Spanish Fork, Utah. Here, most travelers stay on the Interstate headed to Las Vegas or California. It’s too bad. I-15 is clearly the faster way to go, but U.S. 89 offers superior scenery and some of Utah’s most charming small towns.

The highway begins this stretch in Spanish Fork Canyon and later winds through a series of pretty mountain valleys and farmland, all land settled by the Mormons in the mid-19th century. Eventually, the landscape slowly shows hints of the redrock scenery that awaits as you approach the Panguitch area, which is the U.S. 89 gateway to Bryce Canyon. In between, there are plenty of opportunities to experience rural Utah, or do some serious wandering that can take you to national parks, mountain backways and ancient Native American sites.

It doesn’t take long to find something to look at out your car window. Spanish Fork Canyon is a beautiful drive as it follows the Spanish Fork River south. In the fall, Spanish Fork Canyon is a favorite drive for locals as the aspens and oaks turn yellow and red.

Just 20 miles up the canyon is the site of one of the biggest geological events of the 20th century in the U.S., even though it’s far less familiar to people than such catastrophes as the eruption of Mt. St. Helens or any of a number of California earthquakes, mostly because no one died. In the early spring of 1983, following one of the wettest winters in Utah’s history, the saturated soil on the western slope of Spanish Fork Canyon began to slip. At first, it caused some slight buckling of the railroad tracks and the roadbed. As the ground continued to move, it eventually obliterated the rail tracks, the highway and the riverbed, damming the swollen Spanish Fork River. Fearing that the dam could break loose and cause massive flooding downstream, government geological experts decided to bring in earthmovers to strengthen the dam and make it, for all intents and purposes, permanent. This was somewhat controversial, because it created a temporary reservoir behind the dam that eventually inundated the tiny town of Thistle, just upstream from the dam. The water wiped out the town, and it’s never been resettled. When it was over, the Thistle disaster had become the most expensive landslide in U.S. history, with total costs to all parties of $400 million.

Evidence of the slide is can still be seen, and the dam is still in place, although the river flows under it through a tunnel. As you approach the area, U.S. 89 leaves the original roadbed and turns slightly left (for southbound traffic) and begins a slow climb. This is all new highway since 1983 (the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, whose tracks were obliterated by the flood, took a lower grade when it replaced its tracks). As you climb the grade southbound, look to the right (west) and you’ll clearly see the area where the land let loose, plus the resulting dam. Near the top of the grade is a turnout with some interpretive signs. (If you took one of the side trips in Jackson Hole to the Gros Ventre Slide area, you will have seen two of America’s largest landslides in a single trip.) As you head down the other side of the grade, watch for the junction where U.S. 89 and U.S. 6 separate. There, you’ll take a hard right and the highway winds on down to the Thistle Creek riverbed and past the abandoned town of Thistle.

If you’re a four-wheel-drive enthusiast, there’s a terrific backroad that leaves Spanish Fork Canyon just north of the slide area called Diamond Fork Canyon. This dirt and gravel road winds behind and between the southern section of the Wasatch Front and comes out through Hobble Creek Canyon near Springville, just south of Provo. As Forest Service roads go, it’s well maintained and easy to navigate.

From the Thistle townsite, U.S. 89 winds along Thistle Creek past cottonwoods, oaks and aspens, eventually coming out in the farm country of Sanpete Valley, which runs diagonally southwest, beginning near the town of Fairview.

This is serious Mormon Country, where some small towns are almost exclusively LDS (Latter-day Saint, short for the Mormon Church’s formal name: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). All of these small towns were settled by Mormons sent by Brigham Young shortly after the pioneers first arrived in Utah in 1847. They all have characteristics of that era – wide streets, large city blocks and many large brick pioneer-era homes.

Fairview is a jumping off point for hunting and fishing spots in all directions, but most particularly the Wasatch Plateau east of the valley. The Wasatch Plateau also is home to Skyline Drive, an 87-mile dirt and gravel route that has become a world class ATV track. During summer and fall, you can plan a whole vacation around this activity, and if you don’t own your own four-wheel all-terrain-vehicle, they are available for rent up and down the gateway towns to Skyline Drive (schedule these ahead of time). A sport utility vehicle or even a mountain bike for the truly fit can handle the route, too, which climbs to as high as 10,000 feet and offers spectacular views of the San Rafael Swell (described later in this chapter) and mountain peaks in all directions, including the nearly 12,000-foot Mt. Nebo to the north.

Fairview’s Museum of Art and History offers a surprising variety of art and sculpture, plus local information and history. It also welcomes temporary exhibits.

Mt. Pleasant is next for the southbound traveler followed by Ephraim and Manti. Ephraim is home to Snow College, a two-year state-sponsored college with about 2,500 students known regionally for its solid athletic program. While in Ephraim, a good stop if it’s lunchtime is the Malt Shop right on U.S. 89, which doubles as Main Street. Done in 50s traditional malt shop décor, complete with red and white tile on the walls, the Malt Shop offers typical burgers and sandwiches, plus a breathtakingly polite young counter crew and an immaculate dining room and kitchen. It’s decorated with historical photos from the area.

The key landmark in Manti is the striking Mormon Temple perched on a hill at the northern edge of town. (Indeed, the temple is so important to the town that the nickname for Manti’s high school sports teams is the Templars.) Completed in 1888 of native limestone, the Manti Temple is typical of sacred Mormon buildings of the era, such as the Logan Temple on U.S. 89 in northern Utah. Temple Hill, on which the temple rests, is the site of the Mormon Miracle Pageant, which is performed in late June each year and depicts scenes from the Book of Mormon, the faith’s cornerstone scripture. (For more on the Mormons, or Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, see Chapter Seven.) Gunnison is the small town on the southern end of the Sanpete Valley, where U.S. 89 turns due south into the Sevier Valley, with the Pahvant Mountains on the west and the Sevier Plateau on the east.

This central Utah valley includes another string of mostly Mormon rural agricultural communities, the largest of which are Salina and Richfield. Salina is at the junction of U.S. 89 and Interstate 70. I-70, which begins (or ends, depending on your perspective) in Maryland on the east, has its western terminus less than an hour from Salina where it intersects with I-15. In Utah, I-70 provides access to such places as Capitol Reef, Arches and Canyonlands national parks east of here.

For a truly thrilling side trip off of U.S. 89, take Utah Highway 24 near Sigurd, just south of Salina. The road rambles through mountain valleys to Torrey. From there, take Utah 12 into the Boulder Mountains, one of the most scenic drives in Utah offering panoramic views of Capitol Reef National Park and Waterpocket Fold. The latter is a three-mile-wide uplift of the Colorado Plateau that runs 190 miles through the national park. The name comes from the fact that water will collect in small pools after rainstorms. The view from Utah 12 extends more than 100 miles eastward across the Colorado Plateau. The road continues through the mountains to Boulder before heading into the Escalante Canyons region of Utah, which is described in Chapter 10. Another option on this side trip is to stay on Utah 24 at Torrey, which will take you into Capitol Reef National Park, an area of sandstone domes and spires that reminded the first white settlers of the U.S. Capitol dome in Washington D.C. There is no easy loop that takes you back to U.S. 89 on this side trip, unless you continue on Utah 12 into the Escalante area, which will eventually take you to the Bryce Canyon area or south toward Lake Powell.

Back on U.S. 89, Richfield is the gateway to what has become one of the West’s most popular ATV trails, the Piute Trail in the Pahvant Mountains. South of Richfield, I-70 turns west while U.S. 89, which has paralleled I-70 through the Sevier Valley, turns south. Before leaving the area, take I-70 a few miles west to the Fremont Indian State Park, which preserves Fremont petroglyphs and pictographs on the canyon walls.

There is ample dining and lodging in the Sevier Valley, most of which can be found in Richfield, with a smaller selection in Salina.

U.S. 89 leaves Sevier Valley south of the small town of Sevier and enters a canyon and soon comes upon Big Rock Candy Mountain, made famous by a song of the same name sung by Burl Ives. The mountainside, colored lemonade yellow and chocolate brown by minerals, attracted visitors and even sprouted a small resort, which has changed ownership a few times over the years. At this writing, the resort was open with a restaurant, gift shop, campground and motel.

From here, the highway meanders along the Sevier Plateau in some starkly picturesque scenery. On either side of the highway rise peaks of anywhere from 9,000 to 12,000 feet, but towns are few and far between. First comes Marysvale, just south of Big Rock Candy Mountain after the highway leaves the canyon, then the road runs south through cattle ranches to Junction. The 1907 courthouse on the west side of the highway as you pull into town is worth a brief stop. Circleville is next, another village with a service station or two. Eventually the highway brings us to Panguitch, the only town of any consequence between Richfield and Kanab.

Panguitch is home to the Paunsaugunt Wildlife Museum, which houses exhibits of 200 North American animals, plus game from Africa, Europe and India. There’s also a collection of Native American artifacts.

If it’s already been a long day, Panguitch offers a reasonable variety of restaurants and lodging. If Bryce Canyon is your ultimate destination for the day, however, it’s only another 30 minutes down the road.

The turnoff to Bryce Canyon is 10 minutes south of Panguitch, state highway 12. The road immediately begins the climb to the top of the Paunsaugunt Plateau, winding through some redrock country and juniper forest before emerging at nearly 7,000 feet above sea level.

Bryce Canyon isn’t a canyon. As the top “step” of the Grand Staircase (see Chapter 8 on the Colorado Plateau), Bryce is viewed from the top of a series of natural amphitheaters where centuries of erosion from wind, water and freezing and thawing have exposed the underlying sandstone and limestone. There is no place like it in the world. For acre after acre, impossibly carved spires, called “hoodoos”, create an eerie landscape. At this elevation, temperatures are cool even in summer. Snow closes much of the park’s main road in winter, but the Visitors’ Center is open year-round, as is access to some of the more spectacular amphitheaters.

Just outside the park boundary is Ruby’s Inn, which features two restaurants, motel-style lodging, a campground, gift shop, small grocery and other conveniences of civilization. There’s also lodging and camping inside the park, available from mid-spring through late fall. During the peak season of July and August, reservations either inside the park or at Ruby’s Inn are essential. Another option is Tropic, a small town at the foot of Bryce Canyon 10 minutes east of the park with a handful of motels and campgrounds.

On the assumption that you’ll be visiting during the summer when the snow is gone and all roads and trails are open, there are a number of options to consider. The most popular is to drive the full length of the park road, which ends at Rainbow Point, offering views not only of the “canyon” itself but for more than a hundred miles south and east. On a clear day you can see Navajo Mountain on the Utah/Arizona border from many of the park’s overlooks. Driving the full length of the park road and stopping at each viewpoint will take a half day, if you take adequate time at each stop.

Since most of the amphitheater faces east, pictures are best taken in the morning, when the sun gives the sandstone a deep orange hue.

The best way to see Bryce is to get a room at Ruby’s or inside the park for two nights, at the very least, and take a full day to explore. Half the day can be spent touring the park road and it overlooks, while the other half can be spent with an outfitter taking a horseback tour or hiking any of the park’s many trails. When it comes to hiking, be forewarned that there are few “leisurely” walks at Bryce. All trails lead immediately down, which means they must eventually come back up, usually 500 feet or more. The hikes are rewarding, as they take you into the heart of the hoodoos that you can only see from a distance from the viewpoints at the rim. But they are work, particularly given the altitude of more than 7,000 above sea level. For the serious hiker, the Under the Rim Trail runs more or less parallel to the park road and can take several days to complete.

A very different experience awaits a couple of hours away at Zion National Park, which is a half an hour west of U.S. 89 and about 50 miles south of Bryce.

After spending a day or two looking down from the rim of Bryce Canyon, you’ll be looking up from the canyon floor at Zion. The drive down U.S. 89 is pretty uneventful, though it does take you through Orderville, a pioneer settlement that became known for its attempts to live the “united order,” a type of communalism originally introduced by Mormon founder Joseph Smith in the 1830s when the church was in its infancy. The united order failed everywhere it was introduced, but it actually survived and thrived in Orderville until the 1880s, long after other experiments with communalism were abandoned. At Mt. Carmel Junction you leave U.S. 89 and take Utah 9 west to the western entrance of Zion National Park. This route, known as the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway, was considered an engineering and technological marvel when it was built in the 1920s.

At Zion’s eastern entrance, you’re far above the canyon and the park road curves its way downward. Eventually it arrives at a mile-plus-long tunnel finished in 1930 that was, at the time, the longest vehicular tunnel in the U.S. It’s so narrow that RVs cannot pass from opposite directions (hence, traffic is often stopped at either entrance to allow one-way travel).

After emerging from the tunnel the road descends rapidly through a series of S curves to the valley floor. Once there, you’ll come to an intersection where you’ll take a right and enter Zion Canyon. The road runs parallel to the Virgin River, which is responsible for the scenery that now surrounds you. Sandstone walls rise more than a thousand feet on either side of the canyon’s length of nearly 10 miles.

Zion can be enjoyed just by stopping at the many turnouts inside the canyon, but even the most casual visitor should get out of the car and check out a few spots. At this writing, the park service was beginning to use a bus shuttle system during peak season in Zion Canyon, a minor but necessary inconvenience to protect the air quality inside the park. Here’s a list of the canyon’s highlights, starting with those requiring the least effort and ending with some options for only the truly ambitious and physically fit.

• Riverside Walk. The trailhead for this walk is at the end of the canyon road. The flat trail leads to the beginning of the Virgin River Narrows, the jumping-off point for hikes farther into the narrows, which can only be accomplished in late summer of early fall when the water is down and there’s no danger of rain (more about that later). For the less ambitious, it’s a pleasant stroll of less than an hour that dead-ends at the river.
• Emerald Pools. This is a very pleasant walk to a series of waterfalls and pools that begins across from the Zion Lodge. It requires a modest climb but can be accomplished by pretty much anyone (in fact, much of the path is paved and wheelchair accessible). Once you get to the main series of pools, you can continue to the upper pools if you want a more strenuous test. Just follow the signs. In late winter and early spring there’s plenty of water pouring from one pool into the next; by late summer it’s just a trickle.
• Hidden Canyon. This will give you a taste of canyon hiking. It’s a short walk but a stiff climb of more than 800 feet. The payoffs are some small caves and a natural arch.
• Watchman Trail. This hike is actually just outside the canyon, beginning hear the South Campground. It’s a good introduction to desert and redrock hiking, requiring a modest climb of less than 500 feet in about two and a half miles.
• Angels Landing. This is a serious short hike (about 4.5 miles) that climbs nearly 1,500 feet and takes you out to a ledge with drops of 2,000 feet. Needless to say, avoid this if you have a fear of heights. Otherwise, it’s a spectacular hike.
• Observation Point. A 7.4 mile hike that comes off the Hidden Canyon trail and takes you to a panoramic view of Zion Canyon.
• Zion Narrows: A two-day hike for serious, experienced hikers who have planned ahead and have some local knowledge. Going with someone who has done it before is a good idea. Flash flooding is a serious danger, so knowing the weather forecast is a must. Much of the hike requires walking in the river. This is a point-to-point hike requiring a car at each point. Camping is limited and requires reservations and a permit, so a lot of planning is required to do this hike, which may be the most famous in Utah.

There’s plenty of hiking elsewhere in the park, including the area near the east entrance and the Kolob Canyons region, which can be entered only through a separate park entrance off of Interstate 15 between Cedar City and St. George. Both of these regions are far less crowded than the canyon area.

There are numerous lodging options in and around Zion. The Zion Lodge is the only accommodation inside the park other than campgrounds. However, Springdale is immediately outside the western entrance to the park and has a wide variety of lodging, dining and shopping alternatives (plus an IMAX theater). Since the canyon floor is at the low elevation of less than 3,000 feet, Zion is truly a year-round park with something to offer any season. The peak season is summer, but it can be oppressively hot in July and August. Since summer is both hot and crowded, consider visiting Zion in late winter or late fall. In February and March, water often pours off the canyon walls as snow from the higher elevations begins to melt. Fall comes late to Zion, where the leaves turn in late October or even early November, also a good time to pay the park a visit.

St. George is about an hour away, offering many lodging and dining options, plus year-round golf at more than a dozen golf courses. St. George is home to a spa, tennis club, and many other amenities. St. George’s climate is similar to that of Las Vegas, since it is situated on the northeastern edge of the Mojave Desert.