This is day 6 of 20 as we travel from Los Angeles in California to Washington DC.
As ever start the day with a full fuel tank.
Today we will experience 100 miles of pure driving bliss along Utah RT12. We have already done 21 miles of the road as you travelled through Red Canyon yesterday so today just continues the good stuff.
So time to head out and experience some more of Utah’s Scenic Byway 12, also known as “A Journey Through Time Scenic Byway.” This trip can be done in 3 hours, or could take 3 days. It really depends on the purpose of the visit.
Stunning vistas will dazzle and amaze. Along the way you’ll travel through some of the most diverse and ruggedly beautiful landscapes in the country. This is one pretty epic road as it plays host to two national parks, three state parks, a national monument, and a national forest.
From Escalante, geographically located near the midpoint of the byway, the road turns north winding through vast expanses of slickrock country. Along the way travellers are rewarded with views of the Escalante River (RP8), Calf Creek Canyon (RP9), and the Hogsback (RP10) and Boulder Mountain. At Boulder visitors can get a first-hand look at life in a prehistoric Native American village at the Anasazi Indian Village Park (RP13).
Continuing north from Boulder, still on SR-12, the road crosses the eastern flank of Boulder Mountain with spectacular views across Capitol Reef National Park from Homestead Overlook (RP14) and Steep Creek Overlook (RP15). On a clear day travellers can see more than 100 miles into Colorado and Arizona.
As Scenic Byway 12 comes to an end at Torrey we traverse to Scenic Route 24 as we aim towards Hanksville. This road will navigate us through Capitol Reef National Park with it's steep sides of orange rock. After a few miles, especially once you get to Caineville and beyond, the landscape around UT-24 transforms and suddenly becomes an arid and inhospitable alien territory with a variety of colours, including grey, pale yellow, purple and above all blue.
Hanksville, a small remote town with a hippie soul that serves as an important crossroads is where we will stop for liquid and head south along UT-95, The Bicentennial Scenic Highway, is every road in Utah a scenic byway?
The name comes from the fact the road wasn't fully paved until 1976, in time for the United States Bicentennial celebrations. There is a gas station at Hite Marina (RP35)that is usually open in the summer. Other than that, this is pretty wide open, unpopulated countryside.
The next 130 miles have very little in the way of civilisation, but instead you might feel yourself transported to another planet with the harsh and alien scenery. This is stark red rocks country, vegetated mostly by junipers, chamisa, cacti, sagebrush and creosote bush. The ancient sandstone landscape has been heavily carved by the forces of wind and water since the Colorado Plateau was uplifted about 65 million years ago.
Take time to stop and view the Colorado River and Lake Powell from the Hite Overlook (RP31). Upon completion of Glen Canyon Dam on September 13, 1963, the Colorado River began to back up, no longer being diverted through the tunnels. The newly flooded Glen Canyon formed Lake Powell. Although not as full now as it has been it is still one of the largest fresh water reservoirs in the USA.
The road forks when it meets UT261 we head south towards Mexican Hat until we arrive at the Moki Dugway. The road was constructed in 1958 to provide a way to haul ore from the Happy Jack Mine on Cedar Mesa to the mill in Halchita, near Mexican Hat. The term "mokee" is derived from the Spanish word moqui, which was a general term used by the 18th century Spanish explorers and settlers in this region to describe the Pueblo Indians they encountered and the vanished culture which had left behind the numerous ruins they discovered during their travels. This term continued to be used by the Anglo pioneers, who moved into southern Utah during the 1800's, and their descendants.
As well as his section is three miles of unpaved, but well graded, switchbacks descending 335m (1100 ft). The switchbacks not only giving amazing views of the road but also into the neighbouring Valley of The Gods (RP39).
Normality is soon resumed and all wheels are back on tarmac and we are turning and heading towards the small town of Bluff to bed down for the night