Utah Scenic Byway Twelve: The Road That Starts Here

Running east from a junction just south of Panguitch, Utah Highway Twelve climbs through the Dixie National Forest, crosses the shoulder of the Aquarius Plateau, threads through the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and eventually reaches Capitol Reef National Park after a journey of roughly one hundred twenty miles. Along the way, it passes through or near three national parks and monuments, multiple state parks, and miles of canyon country reachable only by rough dirt road. Travelers and road enthusiasts routinely cite it as one of the most scenic drives in the United States.

The route was designated a National Scenic Byway in nineteen ninety-four and later elevated to an All-American Road, the highest designation in the federal byway program. What makes it extraordinary is the sheer variety of terrain covered in a short distance. The road passes through the red rock country of the Escalante River drainage, passes through the town of Escalante, crosses a narrow ridge called the Hogback where the pavement runs along a spine with sheer drops on both sides, and then climbs to the Aquarius Plateau, one of the highest plateaus in North America.

For drivers coming from the west, Panguitch is the first substantial town on Highway Twelve, the place where the journey into this landscape properly begins. The red brick buildings of Main Street are the last commercial services before the road surrenders itself to canyon and sky for the next hundred miles. Fill the tank in Panguitch.