We were on the road at 7:15 AM and it it wasn't long before we were crossing passes once again, starting with Connors Pass (7,722 ft) in the Schell Creek Range, followed shortly by the Sacramento Pass (7.154 ft) in the Snake Range ( in between the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and the Great Basin National Parks. Not long after that we crossed into Utah and changed back to the Mountain Time Zone.Next we took UT-21, a lonely little 2 lane road where we saw a sign - "Next Services 75 Miles".After another 50 miles we crossed an unnamed summit at 7200 ft, our third for the day. We then got onto I-15 for a short jog south and than back onto another 2 laner - UT-20, and crossed yet another unnamed pass of 7910 ft in the Pahvant Range where we then caught US-89 south to the town of Panguitch, and the start of our Top 15 road for today - UT-12.
UT-12 - What a GEM of a road. I can certainly see why it's on this select list as well it deserves to be. It snakes some 123 miles through and around the Dixie National Forest. It starts out through Red Canyon and then crests another unnamed summit of 7,619 ft. It then passes the entrance to Bryce Canyon. From there is winds around and crests another 7400 ft summit all the while providing breathtaking scenes of natural beauty that I just don't have words to describe. Finally we climbed up the 9200 ft summit just past Boulder UT and then weaved our way back down the other site to end up in Torrey UT and the finish of this segment.
We dined in Torrey as our hotel was 30 miles down UT-24 with no restaurants nearby. After a Bison Burger we stopped for fuel and oh, what a surprise - UT-24 winds it's way through the Capitol Reef National Park before we reach our hotel for the night in Caineville UT.
Today's Stats: 385.1 miles in 6:43 moving time, 8:43 Elapsed time.
Added GPS Track for the day:
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