While researching for my first big trip out of Salt Lake City, I remembered a book my best friend had given me during my move to UT about scenic drives. I was heading to explore Bryce Canyon National Park and lone behold, there was a map in this book for a scenic drive in that area! The 115 mile drive from the Parowan Gap to Escalante. So I decided to drive from my AirBnB in Panguitch to Parowan Gap and back. This meant completing the western portion of the Parowan to Escalante scenic drive with plenty of pit-stops along the way. The route and stops are detailed on the map below!
Grab your own copy of The Backroads & Byways of Utah: Drives, Day Trips, & Weekend Excursions by Christine Sjoquist from Amazon! The book has other gorgeous drives as well as more stops along the route from Parowan to Escalante.
Parowan Gap Petroglyphs
If I didn’t have the book, I would never have know these petroglyphs existed. This was our first stop, and ended up being one of my favorite add-ons during the trip. Quick details: the area is managed by the Bureau of Land Managment (BLM) and this site offers a toilet as well. This was much needed after the one hour drive from the Air BnB, LOL.
The sandstone boulders in the Parowan Gap feature Petroglyphs initially carved by the Fremont Indians. The history of the area is incredible and detailed really well throughout the site.
It was about a 0.25 mile paved walk around the Parowan Gap to view all the Petroglyphs. They were all really interesting to look at. Each petroglyph had an interpretation from archeologists and a Native American decedent of the Fremont Indians. Several also had astro-archeologic interpretations. The day we went was very cold and very windy! But we spent about an hour reading all the information available.
Dinosaur Tracks Recreation Site
About half a mile down the road and 65 million years earlier in history is Dinosaur Tracks Recreation Site. This was not listed in the book as a stop on the Parowan to Escalante route, but we saw it and had to stop and see what it was about. Just like any other time I have tried to find fossils and dinosaur tracks, it was up to a little bit of interpretation and creativity to “see” many of the tracks. But the experts said the Dino tracks were there, so I believe them (kind-of, LOL). The most clearly visible tracks are in the photos below.
Regardless of the visibility of the dinosaur tracks to the untrained eye, the views of the cliffs at this site were spectacular.
Cedar Breaks National Monument
Between Parowan and Cedar Breaks National Monument we stopped and hiked to Hidden Haven Falls, check out that separate post. We also drove through Brian Head, and almost stopped to rent snow mobiles! The portion of the drive from Brian Head through Cedar Breaks National Monument and back to Panguitch was beautiful mountain back roads. I was saying my thanks for my AWD car.
The Cedar Breaks National Monument visitors center and many of the hiking trails were closed for the Winter season. However we did venture through thigh deep snow to enjoy views from the North View Point.
The remainder of the drive through the Dixie National Forest was a winter wonderland. Overall, I have only glowing reviews of the route we took from Parowan to Panguitch, where our AirBnB was.
Check out more of my Utah adventures on the blog! Plus read all about my time spent in Bryce Canyon National Park and Red Canyon during this trip!
Great Article..Correction… that was a true 4 wheel drive vehicle, a tricked out brand new platinum edition Ford Expedition!.. And it was well used when returned. LOL… great directions provided by the back seat navigator 🤣🤣
Such a great driving tour for southern Utah.
[…] You can find all the details for the rest of the drive in my other post: Backroads and Byways of Utah Parowan to Escalante. […]