Utah Travel

Here are some highlights of my travels to Utah:

Road Trips (PDFs)

To Iowa and Back (including Yellowstone) Road Trip 2024

I made my annual trip to the Midwest to see family, with stops at Colorado's Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve and in St. Louis as I headed east. Heading back west, I visited the Badlands and Black Hills in South Dakota, and I finally had a nice visit to Yellowstone National Park after other attempts in recent years were thwarted by early winter storms.

Spring Utah Hiking Road Trip 2024

It was time for my annual spring Utah trip, where I focused on hiking and sightseeing at a number of places in southeast and south central Utah. I took in a number of archaeological sites as well as a pair of dinosaur trackway sites.

To Iowa and Back Road Trip 2023

I headed out to Iowa and back to visit family, making a number of sightseeing stops along the way.

Nevada and Old Paria Road Trip 2023

I checked out some of the Extraterrestrial Highway and Basin and Range National Monument rock art sites before heading back to Old Paria for some colorful hiking.

Wyoming and Northeast Utah Road Trip 2023

I made a return trip to Wyoming to explore more of the state. On the way home, I stopped in Vernal, Utah for a couple days so that I could visit nearby Dinosaur National Monument and check out several rock art sites near Rangely, Colorado.

Tri-State Getaway Road Trip 2023

For a short getaway, I targeted sites in and near Kanab, Utah, St. George, Utah and Mesquite, Nevada, including the Donkey History Museum. Although I didn't target any Arizona sites, I still had to pass through part of the state, thus the Tri in Tri-State.

Hiking Utah Road Trip 2023

I made my annual spring trip to Utah, this one focused on hiking, something I haven't done much of since being diagnosed with Charcot Foot. I wanted to put myself to a bit of a test. I also hit some sites in western Colorado that I had planned to visit last fall when returning from seeing my Midwest relatives only to have a winter storm hit the region.

Cross Country Relatives Road Trip 2022

I headed out to the Midwest to visit family. Along the way, I checked out a wide variety of sites, from dinosaur bulges to Frank Lloyd Wright, Pullman cars to French colonial settlements, Buffalo Bill to Laura Ingalls Wilder, the Garden of Eden to Popeye.

Wyoming and Southeast Montana Road Trip 2022

Plans to visit Yellowstone National Park once again went awry due to weather - flooding, this time - but I still headed for Wyoming and southeastern Montana to see a number of other sites on my list, most related to archaeology, dinosaurs and the western emigrant trails that passed through Wyoming.

Return to Southeast Utah Road Trip 2022

After more than 30 years, I finally explored Shafer Canyon at Canyonlands National Park. And for the first time since the COVID pandemic began, I returned to Blanding, Utah and Page, Arizona to explore more sites in those areas.

Great Plains Road Trip 2021

Fully vaccinated for COVID-19 but sporting a medical boot for a broken bone in my foot, I set off on a road trip to Iowa to see family. On the drive out there and much moreso on the drive home, I checked out the scenery and a number of interesting stops in the Great Plains state.

Sites Around St. George, Utah and Mesquite, Nevada Road Trip 2021

Mesquite, Nevada and St. George, Utah are close enough to Las Vegas that I could visit area sites through a series of day trips. But that just wasn't happening, and I had built up quite a list of places to see. So, I packaged several of these up into a 4-day road trip so that I could finally see what I had been missing.

Utah's San Rafael Swell and Cathedral Valley Road Trip 2021

I took my usual annual April road trip to Utah, although once again the length and agenda were somewhat abbreviated due to pandemic concerns. But I did hit a long-time goal of visiting the remote Cathedral Valley area of Capitol Reef National Park, and I continued to explore the San Rafael Swell, arguably the most deserving area in Utah that ought to be a national park or national monument but isn't. As always, I found a few other places worth visiting, too, and I added a few more items to my "someday" list.

Utah Sightseeing Road Trip 2020

Between the COVID-19 pandemic and a cracked bone in my foot, I didn't get away this summer. But with the foot on the mend, I decided to take another road trip, a return to the places I stayed in Utah at the start of the summer, and daily plans in remote areas where I could expect to have the places to myself. No hiking this time, though, as my recovering foot wasn't ready for that yet. Not as great as the social distancing road trip, but still a good getaway.

Utah Social Distancing Road Trip 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic upended most of my 2020 travel plans. But when travel restrictions eased somewhat, I decided to head up to Utah for a road trip where masks and social distancing were vital. I stayed in two counties that had few cases (all recovered), and visited a number of remote areas well off pavement and away from popular destinations. I was rewarded with a number of great places - Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, a remote corner of the Grand Canyon, cool places in the San Rafael Swell and nearby San Rafael Desert, some dinosaur sites, and even the Red Planet. Mars? Really? Read and find out.

Cross Country Relatives Road Trip 2019

On a cross-country road trip to see family, I checked out a mix of places that featured geology sites, archaeology sites, dinosaur sites, Republicans, nuclear missile sites, corny sites and the Jolly Green Giant.

4-Day Southwest Utah Road Trip 2019

I had a week at home without any appointments, so I decided to head up to southwest Utah to check out some ghost towns, Cedar Breaks, lava sites, and out of the way scenic views. Throw in some hiking and it was a great getaway.

Southern Utah and Western Colorado Road Trip 2019

It was time for my annual Four Corners spring trip. I came up with a number of mostly new-to-me hikes and destinations around Page, Arizona, Blanding, Utah, Grand Junction, Colorado and Green River, Utah.

Cross Country Relatives Road Trip 2018

In October 2018 I took a road trip from Las Vegas to the Midwest to visit relatives, making a handful of deliberate and ad hoc sightseeing stops along the way. On the way back home I spent a few days in the Moab/Green River area of Utah to visit Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. Unfortunately, rain, local flooding and snow limited some of my sightseeing.

Four Corners Rock Art, Ruins and Hiking 2018

In April 2018 I took a 17-day road trip around the Four Corners region to see a number of ruins, petroglyph, pictograph and geological sites - most of which I hadn't been to before even though I've been in the region a number of times. This included 34 hikes on the first 16 days of the trip. It was a great trip - and it was pretty obvious that when hiking through Four Corners canyon country it pays to keep your eyes open.

Cross Country Relatives Road Trip 2017

In October 2017 I drove from Las Vegas to Illinois and Iowa to visit some relatives, padding the drive with some sightseeing days in New Mexico, Texas, Illinois, Nebraska, Wyoming and Utah.

New Mexico and Southwest Texas 2017

In September 2017 I took a 2-week road trip around New Mexico and southwest Texas as I headed to Fort Worth, Texas to visit family.

Petroglyphs and Geology of Southeast Nevada and Southwest Utah 2017

In June 2017 I took a short road trip that included stays in Caliente, in southeast Nevada, and St. George, in southwest Utah, so that I could explore some petroglyph sites, geological sites and state parks in the region. This trip also included a stop at a museum focused on the westernmost known Ancestral Puebloan ruins site.

Northern Arizona and Southeast Utah 2017

In April 2017 I took a two-week trip to Utah, taking familiar roads but visiting a lot of new sites and sites that I haven't been to in years - even decades in some instances. I especially focused on places in the San Rafael Swell, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and locations around Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, but visited other areas.

Destination Overviews (PDFs)

Slide Shows (YouTube)

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