Scenic Byway Twelve: The Most Beautiful Road in America
Near Torrey, Utah
Utah State Route Twelve runs south from Torrey through some of the most extraordinary landscape in the United States, and the federal government has formally recognized that fact. The highway carries the designation All-American Road, a top scenic honor from the Federal Highway Administration, reserved for roads that function as destinations in themselves rather than simply ways to get somewhere else. From Torrey the road drops into canyons and climbs back over high ridges, passes through Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and crosses a narrow spine of rock called the Hogback where the pavement is barely wide enough for two vehicles and the ground drops away on both sides into canyon.
It continues through the tiny town of Boulder, past an Ancestral Puebloan village, across slickrock plains and through painted canyon country, and eventually descends toward Bryce Canyon and the town of Panguitch. Along the way the elevation changes by thousands of feet. Travelers sometimes arrive in Torrey headed east toward Capitol Reef, discover Route Twelve heading south, and change their entire itinerary.
The road does that to people. It is not the fastest way anywhere, but it may be the most visually concentrated drive in America, and it begins right here at the edge of this small farming town in Wayne County.
