From Bryce Canyon we took Utah 12, a scenic byway, to Torrey, UT our next stop. They have tee shirts that state “I survived Highway 12” but the road is very good, although a little twisty in sections. There are visitor centers at Red Canyon, Cannonville (for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument), Escalante, and Torrey. Make sure to stop at some of them, especially if you are planning on taking any back road side trips to get the current road conditions. Even if you stay on 12 the vistas are amazing and the scenery changes as you go from south to north.
Our first stop after a wonderful breakfast at Rustler’s Restaurant in Tropic was Kodachrome Basin State Park. The feature in this park are sandstone chimneys. These are very unusual and highly concentrated in the park. To get to some of the chimneys you need to go in unpaved roads, which are pretty good. They will take you into open range so watch out for cattle.
There are a number of overlooks on Utah 12 and the views are great. From some the view is difficult to capture with a camera, but we did take some pictures at Powell Point and Boynton overlooks. Also some of the overlooks do have restroom facilities (clean but primitive).
Powell Point
View from Boynton Overlook
We also stopped at Escalante Petrified Forrest State Park. Didn’t have time to hike any of the trails, but there were some interesting samples of petrified wood including parts of a very large tree. Worth a stop.
View in Petrified Forest Park
petrified wood
part of large petrified tree
We are looking forward to seeing Capitol Dome National Park tomorrow and driving to Colorado to see our friends.