In terms of roadways, it doesn’t get much more incredible and constantly beautiful than the Bicentennial Scenic Byway 95 that runs through southeastern Utah. You’ll see mountains, deserts, canyons, rivers, mesas, buttes, cliffs, and lots of red and throughout the entire thing you’re left with your jaw on the floor. You pass the Colorado River, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Natural Bridges National Monument, the Bears Ears, Comb Ridge, the intersection to Highway 276, Hite Crossing Overlook, and so much more. Get ready for the drive of a lifetime… which happens a lot in the southwest.

No matter which direction you drive Highway 95, it’s going to be an incredibly beautiful adventure, but I believe the best way to see it is to head west from Blanding.

Approximately 4 miles south of that fun town that houses both The Dinosaur Museum and Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum is the turn for 95.

The road immediately delivers awesome adventures with the chance to see the strange and awesome Spirit Cave Ruins. The only problem with the ruins is that they’re so close to the road and to the town that it is clearly visited frequently. When I was there I filled an entire garbage bag of trash which included shell casings, glass, beer cans, and a dirty diaper. The ruins are only .6 miles from 95 on Forest Road #288.

Between Spirit Cave Ruins and the Comb Ridge there are even more turn-offs for more ruins and even some dinosaur footprints (I have failed to find the footprints)! A great ruin I hiked to is known as Tower Ruin and it’s somewhere in the sandstone playground.

Another popular ruin and petroglyph filled area near Comb Ridge is known as Butler Wash and there you’ll find the Wolfman Panel, Monarch Ruins, Split Level Ruins, Fish Mouth Ruins, Big Cave, and more.

Immediately after Butler Wash you will begin climbing and turning until you crest the Comb Ridge and then the world opens in front of you and it is amazing! It is one of the highlights of the drive.

Once you’re on Cedar Mesa, the options for adventure are endless! Highway 261 takes you down to Muley Point past many canyons filled with Ruins. Head to the Kane Gulch Ranger Station for information pertaining to those hikes. You can explore one of the many canyons, head down Grand Gulch, climb up to the Bears Ears, explore the Natural Bridges, find some magnificent ruins including Seven Kivas, head to the Moki Dugway and down to the Valley of the Gods, or keep on going West towards the Colorado River. But don’t forget to look behind you at the Abajo Mountains!

Once the Bears Ears are in the rearview and after you’ve passed the eastern portion of 276 (the Ferry won’t be running), you’ll be winding over canyons of sandstone towards Hite. You’ll pass through White Canyon and the Red Rock Plateau and formations like Jacob’s Chair and Cheese Box Butte. It’s a beautiful and imposing canyon filled land and it only gets more dramatic as you approach the Orange Cliffs, the Colorado River, and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The whole time you can see the Henry Mountains in front of you, beckoning you near.

For years as I travelled over the wild and woolly land, I assumed there were ruins, petroglyphs, slot canyons, and granaries in that magnificent dark sky wilderness of white & red sandstone and thanks to Michael Kelsey’s books, I was absolutely right. Pick up Canyon Hiking Guide to the Colorado Plateau and never be lost again.

Make sure you stop at the many areas to pull over and take it all in. The Dirty Devil, the Colorado, the canyons, the buttes. It is a truly exceptional and beautiful place.

The red buttes remind me of Monument Valley even though it’s a bit a ways away from there. There’s an awesome bridge that suspends you over the river and it has a pedestrian section for those who want to enjoy the view of the sometimes red, sometimes green, always powerful river.

Hite has boat landings, campgrounds, picnic spots, indoor plumbing, and information kiosks, but I have yet to see it open. This last time (March 2024) it was completely blocked off.

As you ascend to the top of Hite Overlook you pass through an engineering marvel of a road that takes you between the cliff wall and an imposing butte. It’s amazing.

At the top of the road is the Hite Crossing Overlook that lets you see seemingly forever onto the Colorado Plateau with the river ever carving beneath you. To the north is the infamous Cataract Canyon and to the south is Castle Butte. Make sure to look to the west at the tops of the Henry Mountains and the sandstone fins that pour out over the cliffside. I really want to explore them…

Once past Hite Overlook, you begin a curvy ascent back onto the Colorado Plateau proper through bright red sandstone canyons with camping spots, picnic areas, ruins, and slot canyon wonders. It is truly a wanderer’s paradise.

Once the curving slows and the road begins to level, the turn off for the western portion of Highway 276 appears on the left. Taking that magnificent highway will take you to Ticaboo, Bullfrog Marina, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Lake Powell, and the southern portion of the Notom-Bullfrog Road. And the entire time you will be circling the amazing, enchanting, and enticing Henry Mountains. This particular wilderness around the Henry Mountains is quite possibly my favorite landscape on the planet.

7 miles north of the turn-off for 276 is an awesome little Goblin Valley-esque area known as Little Egypt. It has eroded Entrada Sandstone, hoodoos, and great views of the Henry Mountains.

Finally, you have the terminus: Hollow Mountain gas station. You can’t miss it and you shouldn't. The raptors, the pictographs, the fact that the store is in a cave, and it has gas which you may need by now.

The end of the road shouldn’t be the end of your journey though! To the north you’ve got Horseshoe Canyon in the Maze District of Canyonlands, Goblin Valley State Park, the San Rafael Swell, and more. To the west you’ve got Factory Butte, Capitol Reef, and endless adventures beyond on Highway 12, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Bryce, Zion, etc, etc, etc…