Scenic Byway Twelve
Near Bryce Canyon, Utah
The road that carries you past Bryce Canyon is not just a way to get somewhere. It is a destination in its own right. Utah State Route Twelve, known as Scenic Byway Twelve, runs about one hundred twenty three miles across the canyon country of southern Utah, and it holds a rare honor.
It is designated an All American Road, the highest rank a scenic byway can earn. Its nickname is a Journey Through Time, because along its length you cross a vast span of geology and human history. Starting near Panguitch, the byway climbs past Bryce, threads through the pioneer towns of Tropic, Cannonville and Henrieville, cuts across the wild folds of the Grand Staircase Escalante country, and famously runs along the Hogback, a knife edge ridge with sheer drops falling away on both sides.
Out on the Hogback there are no guardrails and no shoulders, just a narrow ridge with steep drop offs on each side, so keep both hands on the wheel. Utah first added the stretch from Bryce Canyon Junction to Tropic to its state highway system in nineteen fourteen, but the route was not extended north from Boulder to Torrey until nineteen eighty five. The east end sits in Torrey, five miles west of Capitol Reef National Park.
Whether you stop at Bryce or roll on through, the driving here is the attraction.
