Past the Hogbacks on Utah 12

Twelve is the scenic byway that we took from Capitol Reef to Bryce Canyon. It is about 120 miles long and it took us all day to drive, with stops. It boasts passes up to 9600 feet in the Boulder Mountains and skirts in and out of the Dixie National Forest and the Grand Staircase Escalante, it passes through some of the roughest country in the US. It was the last portion ever to be mapped. One of the most interesting stretches is known as the hogbacks. There the road twists and turns, dives and climbs, all with steep cliffs on both sides.

We stopped at two state parks, Anasazi and Escalante Petrified Wood. The first was an excavated Native American village. The second one sported Jurassic era tree fossils. We had a great lunch at Anasazi and got postcards and souvenirs. We stopped at a  lot of roadside overlooks, they added up and time passed.