All-American Road

Cannonville, UT – On the second day of spring, in a part of the world where flowers are blooming and trees are coming into leaf, we had the dubious pleasure today of passing fields white with snow and rock faces covered in ice. Fortunately, none of the wintry stuff affected the roadbed along our route.

We know we will be seeing more wintry weather in the days to come, so I guess this was kind of like dipping your toe in the water, but we are in no rush.  There was a chill in the air this morning, as there has been for several days, but it always warms up to the 70s before the day is through.

Our route today took us northward along Interstate 15 until we passed through Cedar City, at which point we turned east onto State Highway 14. After that turn, the highway climbed steadily into Dixie National Forest, a mountainous region that looked a lot like Canada. From time to time there were pullouts where we could stop, get out and really take in the fabulous vistas.

Val was using his new watch that features an altimeter, and as we climbed, he read out the elevation. The highest figure we hit was 10,100 feet – the greatest height so far on this trip! There was a blanket of snow over everything, right to the side of the highway, but as I said to Val, it was old snow.  Clearly it had not fallen recently, so we were in no danger of being engulfed in a snow squall or anything. Must keep the driver’s spirits up!

After reaching the peak, we began to descend again on the other side.  Once we were in the valley, we turned north for about 20 miles on Highway 89. Then we headed east again on Highway 12, and the terrain changed almost immediately. We stopped at a pullout where there were some visitor plaques that described what was ahead.  Some of the most spectacular and unique natural wonders in the entire country were on this route, they said.

In fact, the Federal Highway Administration has designated Highway 12 as an All-American Road – one that has one-of-a-kind features so exceptional that they qualify as a destination unto themselves. We covered less than 20 miles so far of its 124-mile length, and we concur! 

Rust-red walls of sculpted rock, topped with hoodoo knobs of amazing shapes, greeted us within the first 100 feet after the turn-off.  As we continued along, we saw more of these, sometimes made of white stone, as well as mountain ranges with colourful strata, contrasting with the deep green of pine trees growing in the folds and cracks.  I barely turned the camera off the whole trip.

We passed the turnoff for Bryce Canyon before reaching the RV park, but we will be back with the little car for a closer look.  Already the scenery was giving us a foretaste of what we will be seeing.

Choosing the pictures of the day is often challenging and that’s the case especially today.  Once again, we have a spectacular view from our RV park, and it looks like it will be peaceful sleeping, as the road is not a busy one.