Scenic Route 12

During our stay here in the Bryce, we wanted to explore just a little bit of Scenic Byway 12, which has come highly recommended to us from several friends and acquaintances. Nearby to Bryce is the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. For more information, click here. It covers 1.7 million acres of land in Southern Utah. We drove along Highway 12 for about 70 miles total. I have no words. The view defies description, as it is all different and all beautiful.

Highway 12

Highway 12

Highway 12

Highway 12

Highway 12

Highway 12

Highway 12

Highway 12

check out the rainbow!

always a cow!

Highway 12

Highway 12

Highway 12

Highway 12

Highway 12

 It is so beautiful, we've seen artists alongside the roadways painting plein air. These artists certainly have a lot of subject matter to choose from! This artist set up shop at a scenic overlook that is amazing. You can see from the pictures below that the road goes right through that beautiful area.

plein air artist

overlook

overlook

overlook

overlook

another nice visitor offered! what can i say?

artist at work

 We drove a bit farther, trying to find Lower Calf Creek Falls, a very popular hike. After a beautiful drive through winding roads, we found the trailhead, which is within the Calf Creek Campground. Again, a really great campground for tents and very small rigs. Very small.

Highway 12

Highway 12

Highway 12

Highway 12

parking at the coffee house

heading to Calf Creek

Highway 12

Highway 12

Highway 12

Calf Creek Campground-the start of the trail

We started hiking a bit late, around 10:30, and it was already hot. Ugh. The trail was sandstone and, well, sand. That made the going a little tougher. And did I mention it was sunny and hot. Oh boy. We started out anyway, and trail was really fun. It goes up a bit, and there are stone steps here and there, and lots of foliage. Unfortunately, not much shade though.

hello

cool natural landscaping

a campsite....table and fire ring in back of trailer

here we go

up as always

pretty area

interesting rock formations

looks like a garden

cactus plants

onward

through a sort of meadow

with great rock views

and lots of little lizards scampering-they are really fast

very nice

 We traveled over rocks, and down the winding sand paths for quite a while. Not all of the trail was sand, but a lot of it was. Makes for quite a workout!

over the rock

nice views

come on Susie

lots of sand

and beautiful rock formations

ahh...a bit of shade

pretty flowers

sheer cliffs

 We passed by petroglyphs on the rock wall. Can you see them? We probably never would have seen them on our own, but we had the trail guide with us that pointed out such things as that.

see the petroglyphs

towards the bottom of the cliff

 I really wanted to see the Falls, but with only a half mile to go (and of course the return trip), we decided to turn around so I wouldn't have a heat stroke. Too bad. I was really disappointed, but we will try again the next time we are in the area in cooler weather.

ah, more shade

its just too hot ....for one of us

lovely "garden"

another new one

 After about 2 hours of hiking, we got back in the car and blasted the A/C on our way down Highway 12. It wasn't too long before we came to the town of Boulder, where we were turning to get off onto Burr Rd. to visit a very short slot canyon that you can actually see from the road. The directions are a little vague: go 11 miles on Burr Rd to the turnout on the left. Walk through the wash and you will see the slot. Hmmm. But yes, we found it!! And enjoyed a beautiful ride in the A/C!

Highway 12

Highway 12

Highway 12

Highway 12

heading off Hwy 12 to find the slot canyon

nice ride as well

getting there

11 miles from the hwy

cool rock

close up

are we there yet?

this is it

heading in

very pretty out front

hard to believe its a slot

with all the trees

its like an indoor mall-sort of

inside the short slot canyon

wasn't a movie made here?

very cool

looking up

looking out

ready?

that was a very short slot canyon

nice and cool in there

view from the outside

close up

that was fun!

 Back on the road, we traveled a little bit farther to Anasazi State Park, where we watched the informational movie, toured the museum inside and outside too. There is an active dig going on - its archaeological dig site called the Coombs site. There is also an unexcavated portion of the ruins. A replica of the living quarters is outside for further exploration. The average height of the male ancestral Pueblans (Anasazi) was 5'4" and the female 5'2". Average life expectancy was 33-35! Woah!.

scenic overlook

don't get too close to the edge now!

this road is amazing

a look from above

heading back out to hwy 12

cool..looks like someone took a slice of the pie

museum display of Anasazi house

replica

replica

the "dig" 

the "dig"

the "dig"

the "dig"

the view this  Anasazi community had

solid workmanship for longevity

 Back in the car, we headed home to Bryce along this very scenic road-Highway 12-All American Road. There were several pull outs and the view was constantly changing. Not a good road to drive the motorhome! There are steep grades, with deep drop-offs on each side. Very thankful we were in our car. Yikes!

 On the way back, we stopped in a coffee shop that was so cool....the architectural style inside and out reflected the Pueblo influence. Like a round pit house. With great refreshments!

Back on the road to more scenic views and another artist! What an enjoyable day, and a beautiful ride. We would never be riding Highway 12 in the motorhome, so it was good we had the chance to check it out in our car.