The objective of this trip is to visit State Capitals. If that were the only consideration, the journey from Phoenix to Santa Fe would take only two days. But that would mean missing out on the southwest corner of Utah – an area with some of the most spectacularly scenic roads on earth including the route rated #1 by Readers Digest – Utah – 12 through the Staircase Escalante. So the plan had to be adjusted.
We started out from Cedar City and quickly climbed up a twisty route along UT-14 up into forests laden with Ponderosa Pines before descending again to the junction with US-89, heading north through Hatch and turning off at UT-12.
View from the top along UT-14
After a brief climb we were in the midst of Red Canyon with highly contoured red shale cliffs on both sides.
Soon we were out on a plateau with a summit of 7,777 feet which was not named (at least there was no sign posted) so we christened it “Mau’s Pass” in honour of my father-in-law who begins his signature with 3 sevens.
Turning left we entered Bryce Canyon National park and followed the road out to Rainbow Point – one of many viewpoints that provides a panoramic view of the Escalante Region to the East. In the distance segments of Lake Powell could be seen. On the return route we stopped briefly to take in the ‘Natural Bridge’.
Travelling beyond Bryce City is difficult to describe. Every corner seems to offer some new unexpected vista of endless permutations of shale, limestone and sandstone. The road is perfectly engineered with constant radius turns and unblemished tarmac. One section on the seems to be on a knife edge – leaving the road on either side would result in a plummet to a certain death.
A brief stop in Escalante for a cappuccino ( a popular spot with many bikers) and we continued on towards Boulder and exited the valley with a high elevation twisty road on the way to Torrey.
Turning east on UT-24 we had the best ride of the day. Close cropped canyons ring twisted bands of perfect asphalt and road. The scenery was a constant distraction which made concentration in the corners difficult. (Unfortunately, my camera battery went dead back on UT-12 so was not able to record any of this!)
When I was a teenager growing up in Ontario, each Labour Day weekend, the local FM station used to host a countdown of the top 500 pop rock tunes of all time. There were strong opinions as to which would be number 1 – many felt it should be “Hey Jude” in recognition of arguably the greatest band of all time – but for many years the top spot wen to Stairway to Heaven. Over the course of this day I found myself recasting the lyrics of this great tune in a vain attempt to capture the special quality of UT-12 – arguably the best ride in the USA. Here’s how it goes ….
” There’s a biker I know
Who says Inter-states blow
And he’s riding the Staircase to Heaven
When he gets there he knows
That the roads are all gold
In a word they are what he lives for
Oh oh oh oh
….. and he’s riding the Staircase to Heaven