Cisco Ghost Town

  • Orignally, Cisco was founded in the 1880's as a watering stop for the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad.
  • By the 1920's, oil was discovered, and for a time Cisco became the largest oil producer in the state.
  • However, Cisco's prosperity was short-lived. Cisco quickly became a ghost town as diesel engines replaced steam-powered trains and the construction of Interstate 70 rerouted the flow of traffic.
  • Currently, Cisco is known for being the backdrop of many movies. Including, Vanishing Point (1971), Thelma and Louise (1991), and Don't Come Knocking (2005), to name a few.

Arches National Park

  • Arches National Park is a popular destination for astronomers. The dark skies make it possible to view the stars without light pollution.
  • Delicate Arch is the most famous arch in the park. It is a symbol of Utah and can be found on many license plates throughout the state.
  • The ancient sand dunes in Arches National Park are leftover from ancient lakes in the area and are now called Petrified Dunes.

Goblin Valley State Park

  • It was officially designated a state park on August 24, 1964.
  • The park features thousands of formations of mushroom-shaped rock pinnacles called hoodoos.
  • Goblin Valley is known for several rock art panels, as well as the many rock formations.

Capitol Reef National Park

  • The white dome formations are what gave the park its name. The domes were thought to have looked like the United States Capitol Building.
  • There are orchards located within the park where park visitors can enjoy picking fruit.
  • Every year, approximately 784,000 people visit Capitol Reef National Park to see and experience its many wonders.

Natural Bridges National Monument

  • The three natural bridges in the park are named Kachina, Owachomo, and Sipapu. These are all Hopi names, the language of the Hopi Native Americans.
  • Sipapu is the thirteenth largest natural bridge in the world.
  • Electricity in the park comes entirely from a large solar array near the visitors center.

Manti LDS Temple

  • The Manti Utah Temple was the third temple built in Utah.
  • The temple was built on a rattlesnake-infested site, known as the Manti Stone Quarry.
  • A Norwegian boat builder was in charge of designing the ceiling in some parts of the temple. He was not sure how to go about it, so he used the design of a boat and turned it upside down.
  • Interesting fact: In the United States, there are three large-scale stairways constructed with no central support, and two of those are located in the Manti temple. Each makes six complete circles and has 151 steps.

Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument

  • Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument spans approximately one million acres of America's public lands and contains three distinct units- Grand Staircase, Kiaparowits, and Escalante Canyon.
  • The oldest evidence of human habitation on the Colorado Plateau can be found at Grand Staircase- Escalante National Monument. The monument also contains the world's richest fossil trove of the Late Cretaceous period.
  • The Ute, Hopi, Zuni, Navajo, and Paiute nations all have cultural affiliation with the lands protected within the monument.

Moab

  • Moab is near both Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park, and is a destination for many mountain bikers and offroad enthusiasts. Slickrock Bike Trail is one of the most technically challenging bike trails in the world.
  • Visitors to the area are also likely to go river rafting down the Colorado River or Green River.
  • Interesting fact: A gang of outlaws called the Wild Bunch, led by Butch Cassidy, was active near Moab. Their Robbers Roost hideout was in the canyons east of town.

Aneth, Utah

  • Aneth is a Census Designated Place (CDP). This means it is not a city and has no city government, but is a concentrated group of people counted on a census for convenience.
  • Aneth had a population of 504 as of July 1, 2018.
  • People believe that the name Aneth came from the Bible, meaning "fields".

Navajo Twin Rocks

  • On the north side of Bluff, Utah stand the rock pillars known as the Navajo Twins.
  • This landmark is named for the Hero Twins of Navajo Legend.
  • The formations were sculpted by wind and water for many millennia.

Valley of the Gods

  • Valley of the Gods is a beautiful scenic backcountry in Southeastern Utah. There are no designated trails or campgrounds, but there is plenty of backcountry to explore.
  • Visitors can drive a 17-mile gravel road that winds through the valley's many unique formations.
  • Valley of the Gods has been the backdrop for many western movies, commercials, and television shows including two episodes of Doctor Who: "The Impossible Astronaut" and "Day of the Moon".

Hovenweep National Monument

  • In 1854, William D. Huntington discovered the ruins of Hovenweep while on a missionary trip to the southwestern United States.
  • Hovenweep includes six different prehistoric villages built between 1,200-1,300 A.D.
  • There is evidence of hunter-gatherers living in the area as far back as 8,000 B.C.

Mexican Hat

  • This rock formation gets its name because it looks just like a man wearing a sombrero.
  • Mexican Hat is a 60 feet (18 m) wide rock which lies upon a much smaller rock which gives it the look of a Mexican Sombrero made of stone.
  • You can see the formation from Highway 163.

Ponch House Ruins

  • W. H. Jackson, a geological survey photographer and explorer, discovered these ruins in 1875.
  • Many of the ruins are only accessible by boat on the nearby river.

Rainbow Bridge National Monument

  • Rainbow Bridge is the largest natural bridge in the world at 290 feet (88 m) tall and 270 feet (83 m) across.
  • The Douglas-Cummings surveyor party officially discovered the bridge in 1909.
  • Visitors can take a boat to see the bridge, or can access it by a 14-mile trail.

Church Rock

  • While the naming of Church Rock is shrouded in myth, many believe it was named by a cult group from the 1930s.
  • The small opening on the front of the rock was created in the 1940s with the use of dynamite. The opening was used to store salt licks and feed for the proporty owners' cattle.
  • Church Rock can be seen along the eastern side of U.S. Route 191, near the entrance to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park.

Emery County

  • Emery County was named after the territorial governor, George W. Emery.
  • Coal mining has been a main source of economic growth and industry in the county.
  • Emery County is home to a wide variety of land features which include national parks and monuments.

Calf Creek Falls

  • Calf Creek Falls is a continuously flowing waterfall that is 214 feet (65 m) tall and is located in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
  • Calf Creek is divided into two separate falls, the upper and lower falls. Guests can hike to each of the falls and enjoy their unique beauty.
  • The green and yellow algae lining the waterfall is beautifully juxtaposed against the red sandstone, and thrive due to the falls' year-round flow.

Green River Water Rafting

  • Average descents down the river are 13 feet per mile (2.5 m/km). The river tumbles past soaring red rock walls.
  • Native American ruins and rock art can be seen along the river and in its surrounding areas.

Wedge Overlook/Buckhorn Draw

  • The Wedge Overlook is sometimes called "Utah's Little Grand Canyon". The view from the wedge is considered by many to be one of the best in Utah.
  • Over 1,000 feet below the overlook, the San Rafael River runs through the canyon, and creates a spectacular place to hike, camp, and explore.
  • Buckhorn Draw Road is the main route into the canyon and enables access to the Buckhorn Draw Pictographic Panel. The panel is a 150 foot wide and includes dozens of well-preserved pictographs and petroglyphs.

Monument Valley

  • The valley floor's elevation ranges from 5,000-6,000 feet (1,500-1,800 m) above sea level, and the tallest rock formation stands 1,000 feet above the valley floor.
  • The ancient Anasazi people inhabited the valley until AD 1300. The valley is filled with ruins and rock paintings left by its earliest inhabitants.
  • The valley has been the backdrop for many films and advertisements. Some of the most well-known films are Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Searchers, How the West Was Won, Easy Rider, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Back to the Future 3, Mission Impossible 2, The Lone Ranger (2013), Forrest Gump, and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, to name a few. In the words of Keith Philips, "its (Monument Valley's) five square miles have defined what decades of moviegoers think of when they imagine the American West."

Moss Back Butte

  • The dictionary definition of a butte is an isolated hill with steep sides and a flat top. Moss Back Butte, located near Natural Bridges Monument, is a classic example.
  • The formation is a composite of erosion-resistant sandstone and stands at an elevation of 7,736 feet (2358 m). If you drive northeast on Utah State Route 276, you can see it standing alone on the left side of the highway.
  • The Butte is part of a larger geological formation called the Chinle Formation, which extends to parts of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah.

Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum

  • The area was named by the cowboys who camped in the area during the late 1800s. They called it "Edge of the Cedars" because of a natural transition from a heavily forested region to a treeless landscape.
  • Edge of the Cedars State Park, located in the Four Corners region of Utah, is a preservation site for ancient Anasazi dwelling places.
  • Edge of the Cedars has the largest collection of Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) pottery on display in the Four Corners Region and offers special exhibits, festivals, and events throughout the year.

Canyonlands National Park

  • On September 12, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Public Law 88-590 establishing Canyonlands as a national park.
  • Canyonlands National Park is open year-round and welcomes about 400,000 visitors per year. The park is a favorite destination for hikers, mountain bikers, backpackers, and four-wheel enthusiasts.
  • A wide variety of wildlife calls the park home. These animals include black bears, coyotes, skunks, bats, elk, foxes, bobcats, badgers, ring-tailed cats, pronghorn, cougars, and at least 273 species of birds.