USA Guide
The Southwest
Bryce Canyon to Capitol Reef: Highway 12
Crossing the heart of Utah's red-rock wilderness, Hwy-12 is perhaps the most exhilarating drive in the US.
From tiny Tropic, straggling along Hwy-12 eight miles east of the entrance to Bryce Canyon, Hwy-12 curves along the edge of the Table Cliff Plateau before dropping into the remote canyons of the Escalante River, the last river system to be discovered within the continental US and site of some wonderful backpacking routes.
At the west end of Escalante, 38 miles east of Tropic, a visitor center holds information on the vast Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (mid-March to mid-Nov daily 7.30am–5.30pm; mid-Nov to mid-March Mon– Fri 8am–4.30pm; 
435/826-5499, 
www.ut.blm.gov/monument ). The most accessible highlight is Calf Creek, sixteen miles east of Escalante, where a trail leads just under three miles upstream from a nice undeveloped campground ($7) to a gorgeous shaded dell replete with a 125-foot waterfall. More ambitious trips start from trailheads along the dusty but usually passable Hole-in-the-Rock Road, which turns south from Hwy-12 five miles east of town. A trio of slender, storm-gouged slot canyons, including the delicate, graceful Peek-a-Boo Canyon and the downright intimidating Spooky Canyon, can be reached by a mile-long hike from the end of Dry Fork Road, 26 miles along. From Hurricane Wash, 34 miles along, you can hike five miles to reach Coyote Gulch, and then a further five miles, passing sandstone bridges and arches, to the Escalante River. Under normal conditions, two-wheel-drive vehicles should go no further than Dance Hall Rock, 36 miles down the road, a superb natural amphitheater sculpted out of the slickrock hills. The pick of Escalante's motels is unquestionably the Prospector Inn, 380 W Main St ( 435/826-4653, www.prospectorinn.com ; Price: $51-75).
Thirty miles beyond Escalante, at BOULDER, the Burr Trail, all except twenty miles of which is paved, heads east through the southern reaches of Capitol Reef National Park and down to Lake Powell. Where it leaves Hwy-12, the modern Boulder Mountain Lodge ( 435/335-7460 or 1-800/556-3446, www.boulder-utah.com ; Price: $76-100) holds twenty comfortable rooms. It also has a reasonable restaurant, but a few yards further east, the spotless Boulder Mesa Restaurant ( 435/335-7447) is better.
North of Boulder, Hwy-12 makes a gorgeous drive up onto the Aquarius Plateau, with marvelous vistas to the east across waves of gold and red sandstone outcrops; the lovely Oak Creek campground is fifteen miles along ( 435/425-3702; $9).