Everyone stops at Utah’s big three national parks and blows past two million acres of red rock

Southern Utah’s best-kept secret isn’t a park

Nearly two million acres of red rock canyons, alpine lakes, and high plateaus stretch across 170 miles of southern Utah, and most people blow right past it.

Dixie National Forest sits between Bryce Canyon, Zion, and Capitol Reef, straddling the line between the Great Basin and the Colorado River watershed.

Elevations swing from 2,800 feet near St. George to 11,322 feet at Blue Bell Knoll on Boulder Mountain. You can drive through it in a day and never know what you missed, because the best stuff sits just off the road.

How a warm southern Utah valley got its name

The Dixie Forest Reserve came together on Sept. 25, 1905, and the federal government made it a national forest two years later. Locals had long called southern Utah’s warm valleys “Dixie,” and the name stuck.

Over time, two other national forests, Sevier and Powell, folded into it. Today, four ranger districts manage the land: Pine Valley, Cedar City, Powell, and Escalante.

The landscape changes fast between them, from desert canyon gorges of red and amber to mountain forests ringed by alpine lakes.

Red Canyon’s hoodoos rival Bryce without the crowds

A few miles from Bryce Canyon National Park, along Scenic Byway 12, Red Canyon rises on both sides of the road.

Red sandstone hoodoos and spires stand as tall and wild as anything inside Bryce, and people call it one of the most photographed places in Utah.

The highway passes through two tunnels carved straight into the rock, so you drive right through the formations. Here’s the kicker: there’s no entrance fee.

You just show up.

Pick a trail through the pink and gold ledges

Red Canyon’s trail system gives you options no matter your speed.

Pink Ledges, Hoodoo, Birdseye, and Golden Wall trails wind through the rock at different lengths and difficulty levels.

The Cassidy and Rich Trail Loop takes you past red rock formations to scenic overlooks at Ledge Point. Mountain bikers come for the Thunder Mountain Trail, an 8-mile singletrack route.

If you’d rather cruise, an 8.6-mile paved bicycle path runs alongside Highway 12 through ponderosa pines. Horseback and ATV routes spread throughout the area too.

Walk the swirling Candy Cliffs near St. George

Near St. George, the Yant Flats trail leads to a place called the Candy Cliffs, and the name fits.

Sandstone layers at the edge of the Colorado Plateau got pushed up by volcanic rock and worn down into colorful domes and curves.

The rock swirls in shades of orange, pink, red, and white, like someone poured paint across the desert floor. The trail runs about 3.3 miles with roughly 282 feet of elevation gain, rated moderate.

It’s the highest-rated trail in the entire forest.

Drive the All-American Road from Bryce to Capitol Reef

Scenic Byway 12 earned the designation of All-American Road in 2002, and 124 miles of it cut straight through Dixie National Forest.

The route starts at Bryce Canyon on the west end and runs to Capitol Reef on the east, passing through Red Canyon, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and over Boulder Mountain.

The road climbs to about 9,400 feet, and the views reach across forests, canyons, and distant ranges. You can finish the drive in three hours, but most people take much longer.

Boulder Mountain holds 80 fishable lakes above 10,000 feet

Boulder Mountain sits on the Aquarius Plateau, often called the highest forested plateau in North America. More than 80 fishable lakes and ponds are scattered across it, many of them above 10,000 feet.

Across the whole forest, 500 miles of streams and 90 fishable lakes hold brook, rainbow, cutthroat, and brown trout.

The Boulder Mountain area stays open for fishing longer than many other high-elevation spots in Utah, so you get more time on the water up there.

Cross an 800-foot canyon on Hell’s Backbone Bridge

Hell’s Backbone Road runs 38 miles of gravel between Escalante and Boulder.

The Civilian Conservation Corps built it in 1933 as the first automobile route connecting the two towns. The road crosses the Hell’s Backbone Bridge, a narrow span over a canyon that drops 800 feet straight down.

You climb to about 9,000 feet and pass through desert slickrock, ponderosa pines, and aspen groves. From the bridge, you can look down into the gorges of Box-Death Hollow Wilderness.

Three wilderness areas where you won’t see another soul

Dixie National Forest holds three designated wilderness areas: Pine Valley Mountain, Box-Death Hollow, and Ashdown Gorge. Pine Valley Mountain covers more than 50,000 acres and holds the largest laccolith in the country.

Box-Death Hollow drops you into deep sandstone canyons carved by Pine Creek and Death Hollow Creek. Ashdown Gorge, established in 1984 at about 7,085 acres, borders Cedar Breaks National Monument.

No motors or bikes of any kind are allowed inside any of them.

Find bristlecone pines and the Utah prairie dog

The Twisted Forest in Ashdown Gorge Wilderness grows bristlecone pines, some of the oldest living things on Earth. Lower elevations hold pinyon and juniper.

Higher up, you walk through spruce, fir, and aspen.

Wildlife moves through all of it: mule deer, elk, cougar, golden eagle, wild turkey, and the Utah prairie dog. Over in Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness, a large stand of virgin Engelmann spruce still grows.

The range of elevation creates a habitat that supports dozens of bird and mammal species.

Lean into a ponderosa pine and smell vanilla

Ponderosa pines across the forest give off a sweet scent people often compare to vanilla or butterscotch. Press your nose to the bark and you’ll catch it.

The trees stand green against bright red soil, and in fall, golden aspen leaves layer against the red rock, pulling photographers from around the country.

Winter buries the higher elevations in snow, opening the land to cross-country skiing and snowmobiling. Brian Head, in the Cedar City Ranger District, runs downhill skiing at nearly 10,000 feet.

Slow down and you’ll have the whole place to yourself

Dixie National Forest draws far fewer visitors than the national parks on its borders. Many travelers pass straight through, missing the hoodoos, lakes, and canyons just off the highway.

Twenty-six developed campgrounds and five picnic sites are spread across the forest, and the forest itself costs nothing to enter, though some campgrounds charge fees.

If you take the time to pull over and wander, you get the same kind of landscapes the parks are famous for, often without another person in sight.

Explore Dixie National Forest in Utah

You can start your visit at the forest headquarters in Cedar City, Utah, at 1789 N. Wedgewood Lane. Ranger district offices also sit in St. George, Panguitch, and Escalante.

The forest stays open year-round, but snow closes some roads and campgrounds seasonally. There’s no entrance fee.

The Red Canyon Visitor Center on Highway 12 near Panguitch is a great first stop, and the official website has maps and updated road conditions before you head out.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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