32. Hanksville, UT

Our next stop was Hanksville, UT. It was a midway point between Bryce Canyon & Arches/Moab — and, it was close to some fun nearby hikes as well. We set out on Highway 12, a route recommended to us by many people for its beauty. It was also the route our RV-safe GPS told us to go. We turned on our moving day theme song (“On the Road Again”), but we quickly lost all cell reception as the narrow country highway curved through the mountains.

One of the things we love most about Utah is how drastically different the landscape changes every 20-30 minutes. The first spectacular spot we drove through was Grand Staircase-Escalante, where the red-orange walls of the canyon reach out over the narrow, curving road.

After that, we steadily climbed and curved until we were driving along the backbone of what felt like the narrowest, most dangerous road in the U.S. This part would’ve been scary enough even without our 20,000-lb house towing behind us! Once we reached a safe spot to pull over & take a break, we let the truck cool down & took a bathroom break (one of the perks of having your house everywhere you go!).

The next portion of the drive took us up another mountain – and this one was covered in snow. I’m not sure exactly where this was, but I think it was Boulder. We saw a lot of caution signs with cows that said “Open Range.”

The next beautiful spot we drove through was Capitol Reef National Park. The mountains were massive again, and the road curved along, so close to the walls.

After Capitol Reef, the 45-minute drive to our campsite in Hanksville was barren. Some of the areas looked like nuclear disaster sites with dull, gray sand everywhere.

I don’t usually dedicate an entire post to just driving, but this drive was 4 hours of intense, beautiful, curving, mountainous, scary scenic country highway. We were relieved to set up camp & watch the sunset!

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