Traveling the most scenic roads in Utah

Before we head out, let's back up a minute. While in Texas, we were in dire need of a truck to pull our newly acquired toy hauler. Our beloved honey just wasn't able to deal with the new rig, so we bought a new-to-us diesel truck and named him Clifford. You know, like Clifford the big red dog. Turns out the emphasis should be on the dog, but not in a cute way like our pup Sadie. Anyway, if you watched our last video, we described how our truck Clifford broke down traveling the mountains of Colorado. This was the second time we were stranded in this location within a five-month period. Some call this area our Bermuda Triangle. In the end, and through much frustration, we resigned ourselves to the fact that good old Clifford wasn't going to be reliable. So, with some careful thought, we decided that for peace of mind and with many more travels to come, we should invest in a new or slightly used truck. Through our experience, we learned a lot about diesel engines and did some research on what we really needed to pull our trailer and haul Julius. So, we began looking. Long beds with the features we wanted were hard to find. It seems as though people weren't using trucks the way they used to trucks, you know, for work. With a five-month waiting period for special orders, we began wondering if we'd get what we needed. But fortunately, we snagged someone else's special order that wasn't purchased. Lucky for us, it was what we wanted. So, meet Casper. Well, let's see. We need to put a thousand miles on Casper before loading him up. So, where would we go? We needed a So, we decided to hit some of the most scenic roads in America. Unfortunately for us, they were right next door in Utah. So, I did some research and got busy planning on my handy-dandy trip planner. Our trip would start in the little town of Placerville, Colorado, where I picked up the hubs from work and headed out. We stayed just a few miles up the road in a quaint town of Norwood. The next morning, we got up to an early start and headed to Utah. Along the way, the hubs in his usual tour guide fashion informed me of past customers he'd had in the area and included some history. Although I had spent most of my years in Colorado, it was a road I had never traveled before, and I was quite surprised at how beautiful it really was. Our first stop was Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum in Blanding, Utah. This museum is one of many in the Four Corners area that features ruins and collections of the ancestral Puebloans. Some call these people Anasazi. The name Anasazi has come to mean ancient people, although the word itself is Navajo, meaning enemy ancestor. After leaving the museum, we made a quick stop at the Blanding Visitor Center. We did a little bit of recon on gathering information on future trips to the area. You know, visitor centers aren't what they used to be. Many contain little museums, and this wasn't any exception. Our next stop was 45 minutes west of Blanding. This spectacular monument's main features are three natural bridges. All paved walkways were easy to access and dog-friendly, except for the Sipapu Bridge where you'll encounter a steep trail. Dogs are prohibited there. We were extremely surprised at how little traffic there was at this monument, being this was Labor Day weekend. It was definitely worth seeing. We had a great picnic area all to ourselves and had a phenomenal view. There are several interesting hiking trails within the park, but this is a road trip after all, so we took the nine-mile loop and focused on the natural bridges. It was getting to the end of a long day. This last stop, well, let's just say there's a reason this place has been designated a national park. One of the Mighty Five in Utah, this park is new to us. It's quite possibly one of the best-kept secrets in Utah. The Water Pocket Fold is a nearly 100-mile-long warp in the earth's crust. This fold has created a striking landscape of cliffs, canyons, and domes. The park is home to numerous petroglyphs and pictographs left by Native American cultures. Within the park lies a historic Fruita District, which was settled by Mormon pioneers in the late 1800s. These settlers planted orchards that still exist today, providing visitors the opportunity to pick and enjoy fresh fruit. And again, we found ourselves saying that we would be back. We spent the night in Torrey. Tomorrow, we'll begin our journey along the famous Highway 12. Starting out, it was hard to imagine that this new highway would be more scenic than what we had just driven. In less than an hour, we're at our next stop, another Anasazi Museum. You'd be surprised how different they all are. Each of these sites highlight a different culture and unique set of artifacts. By visiting more than one, you're able to get a better understanding of each area's rich history. Being built directly on top of the archaeological site allows visitors to see the excavation process and the preserved artifacts in their original context. You can grab yourself some chow outside the museum if you like, but for us, it's time to hit the road. The Escalante Grand Staircase is a geological marvel. It spans over 1.9 million acres and was one of the last unexplored areas of the United States. The intricate layering of sedimentary rock formations makes for very pretty views. Highway 12 was beautiful, but it's not only known for its exceptional views from the highway. It's also known for areas beyond the main road. So we decided to take a detour. We turned left off Highway 12 and reset our odometer to zero. From here, we headed southeast on an unpaved hole-in-the-rock road for approximately 12 miles. We turned right onto a dirt road with a sign for Devil's Garden. Taking this little 12-mile detour off the Highway 12 was well worth it. Just walk around and explore. Some of our favorite things are the ones that are unexpected, and this was unexpected. Back on Highway 12, we stopped at Hole-in-the-Rock Escalante Heritage Center. This place tells the story of 250 men, women, and children who took on one of the most challenging and dramatic pioneering expeditions in American history. Their goal was to establish a settlement along the San Juan River. The journey started in the autumn of 1879. An expedition they expected to last six weeks became an epic six-month journey. Five minutes up the road, we stopped at one of four visitor centers for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Each of the visitor centers has a different theme. This beautiful center not only gave us more information about the area, but gave us plenty of things to do when we returned. ...had us turning south at Cannonville, Utah on Cottonwood Canyon Road. This road would lead us to Kodachrome Basin State Park. After taking a nine-mile detour off the scenic Highway 12, we paid our entrance fee of $10 and drove around the unique sandstone spires known as sandpipes or hoodoos. These towering structures, ranging from 6 to 170 feet in height, display a vibrant array of colors. The park's name, Kodachrome, was inspired by the famous Kodak film due to the vivid hues found here. The main activities here seem to be hiking as they offer a variety of trails for different skill levels. Coming back to Highway 12 and heading towards Bryce Canyon National Park, we had planned to stop by the visitor center to plan out our next day, but it had been a long day, so we drove past Bryce Canyon through Red Canyon and on to Hatch, where we packed it in for the night. We arrived at Bryce the next morning as soon as the visitor center opened. To our surprise, we hadn't encountered any crowds, which to us was surprising since we were traveling on a holiday weekend, but we knew this national park would be different, so we went directly to the ranger station to ask about what not to miss and what places were dog-friendly. Having only a few hours and wanting to maximize our time, we headed out. This was a great plan since we were able to see most of the popular sites before 10 o'clock when the crowds get thick. If you're traveling without a dog, take the shuttle. There's very little parking here. Pictures, as spectacular as they are, don't seem to do this place justice. It just doesn't even seem real. This makes one of our top three lists of national parks. We'll definitely be returning without our pup someday to walk amongst the hoodoos. We headed up past I-70 to a small town and spent the night. The next morning, we headed east on I-70 where we'd be pulling off to view the San Rafael Swell. A part of the Colorado Plateau, the San Rafael Swell is situated in the high desert. This multi-colored sandstone was formed by wind and water and carved into incredible formations as buttes, canyons, pinnacles, and mesas. The swell is one of the most ruggedly beautiful pockets of terrain in the world. Considered one of the undiscovered natural wonders of the American West, this incredible land is managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The swell offers visitors many of the same sites that can be seen in several of Utah's national parks, but allows the visitors to enjoy these sites without all the crowds. And we are all about no crowds, so we are most definitely coming back and bringing Julius with us to explore the OHV trails. Because after all, as great as the scenery was this trip, getting on those smaller roads in the backcountry is where it's at. Now there's only one thing to do before heading back to Colorado. Buy melons! Melons like sandy soil and desert climates, and Green River has both in heavy supply. This makes for a very sweet melon. So if you're passing through Green River September through October, stop. You'll find a large variety of these world-famous melons at a great price. Drive through town and find a stand and buy directly from a farmer. Well, before we knew it, we were back in Colorado. We had broken in Casper and eased him into his purpose of hauling our toys. We walked away from this trip with an expanded bucket list and the desire to explore our neighboring state. Join us in our next video where we'll be returning to Utah to explore the San Rafael Swell.