Today we gathered up our stuff and reluctantly left beautiful Capitol Reef National Park. Fortunately, we started today’s drive by driving into Torrey on UT-24 and then turned south and west on UT-12. This road has a designation as a federally recognized scenic highway and the feds got this one right.
UT-12 runs parallel with the western boundary of Capitol Reef until it enters Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument near Boulder. The section of 12 between Boulder and Bryce Canyon is an absolutely spectacular drive through magnificent canyons and over imposing ridges. The highest section of road is at 9600′ and the lowest around 5600′ down in some of the ravines.
This road is also fairly challenging to drive with very narrow roads on ridges with dropoffs each side that would be fatal if you veered off, steep grades up to 14% and curves that would gladly pitch the unsuspecting into very pretty but also very deep canyons. There are very few places to pull out to allow other, more hurried motorists to get by. Despite having a big, turbocharged diesel engine, we are pulling a 12,000 pound trailer and some folks caught us on upgrades and we just had to wish them the best when trying to pass because losing our revs on the grades here would be disastrous. According to the Good Sam Atlas we have, the road is RV-friendly but I suggest that you ascertain your vehicle has very good brakes. Your engine should also have ample power and a very sanitary air cleaner since the motor will be working very hard due to the steep grades and thin atmosphere. Nevertheless, UT-12 is an amazing route through some of the most beautiful terrain in the world and is definitely worth the hassle. I give it whatever the maximum number of stars is.
We finally pulled into the Red Canyon RV Park near Panguitch after about a three and a half hour passage down UT-12. The park is plopped down in the middle of a big prairie between Panguitch and the Bryce Canyon National Park entrance and had the appearance of a wind-blown parking lot but they have full hookups, great wi-fi and are centrally located to the parks around here.
We took some pix during today’s harrowing drive and you can see them by clicking here