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Secret road off of Rout 12 in Southern Utah

RTRandy

New member
Secret road off of Route 12 in Southern Utah

On my trip last month I stayed in Torrey, UT one night after riding all day out of Montrose, Colorado by way of Monticello to Blanding , Route 95 from Blanding to Hanksville and Hanksville to Torrey. If you ride route 95 north from Blanding, better have plenty of gas on board.

Anyhow I stayed at a new Comfort Inn which was brand new with the room doors facing the parking allowing you to park right outside front your door. Love those kinds of places!

The next morning I tell the lady at the from desk that I'm heading south on Route 12 and I'll be looking to have breakfast somewhere. She tells me there's a couple of places in Boulder, Utah and explains that one is right on route 12 in Boulder and the other is hidden from Route 12 by about a block. She says definately try the one that's hidden if you can find it. From the north as you pull into Boulder on Route 12, there is a main restaurant you can't miss called Hells something or other like "Hells Kitchen". About a block further, there is a little sign in top of a fence that says, "Restaurent 400 feet" in the shape of an arrow. That's it, just a tiny sign.

I turn left and sure enough, there it is.
 

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The Boulder Mesa Restaurant complete with humming bird feeders with lots of humming birds enjoying the free meal. I end up talking with the owners and ask them why the small sign on Route 12. They ask me if I know what "LDS" is and I'm thinking LSD with bad spelling? They tell me Latter Day Saints which they explain that they used to be part of, however they quite and the town was giving them a hard time with sign restrictions. I wasn't going to go there so we ended up talking about me heading to Bryce and Zion that day. By that time the whole family is gathered around and explains that if I want to see some beautiful roads, I should head east on the small road right outside the restaurant. It's just a little farm road. They tell me to pay no attention to the sign that says "Unpaved road" and ride it for about 20 miles and I'm sure to see stuff as good as the national parks. They tell me that if I'm not satisfied, that I should come back and they'll give me my money back from breakfast. The breakfast was great including home made pancakes and sausage
 

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About 5 miles past some small farms the road starts to change. New pavement and smooth as glass.
 

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There were even some nice camp grounds right where this road suddenly drops down into a canyon . The height of the rocks are unbelievable though you can't tell from my photos how high these walls are.
 

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Better idea of how red the rocks are here. Lots of 15mph turns, but who's in a hurry ?
 

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Here's one of Trigger taking a rest along the way. It was like being on another planet down there. No big deal parking in the middle of the road.
 

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Getting near the end you drop off even more to like this private Grand Canyon.
Plenty of turns all along the way. Near the bottom it turns into a dirt road which I'm told heads east for about 70 miles. Times like this I sure wish I had a GS or a nice KLR.
 

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If you look off to the right, you can see the dirt road heading off into the distance. Maybe some day I'll get to ride it . I had to turn around and head back to Route 12 so I could continue south to see Bryce and Zion.
 

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Heading south of Boulder back on route 12. It was all good that day. I made it through Bryce and Zion that day as well and spent the night in Kanab ready to see the north rim of the Grand Canyon the next day.
 

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Part of route 12 near Zion. I went through about 5 rock tunnels on this trip. They're like an amusement park ride.
 

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That road leads to the Burr Trail....

it will take you all the way to the Colorado river ferry crossing ...

My son and I rode that road coming from the colorado river a few weeks ago...it was one of thehighlights of the trip.....

but, even though you really enjoyed your breakfast stop and I'm sure it was good; the place you passed...
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has to be one of the best Inn's in Utah....and the reasturant's breakfast is just outstanding...it's really pricey, breakfast for 2 $30+. dinner $100...but the place is very memorable and the food is 1st cabin....
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but the road you started down is "to be ridden"
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gravel switchbacks...
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and places to do stupid things....if you are young...
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and this is typical of tighter parts of the road...but there can be water too.
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so, if you are in the area....try this road....it's pretty nice...
 
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SCQTT said:
Mark that a previously secret road

Yeah, don't make us come down there and break your camera!
:stick

Truth is, the four corners is PACKED with little roads like that. I once figured that there are over 500 miles of great dirt roads within a 50 mile radius of Panguitch. Definitely GS country. Then again, I have a pretty good time up there in the P cars.
 
j-budimlya said:
....and the reasturant's is just outstanding...it's really pricey, breakfast for 2 $30+. dinner $100...but the place is very memorable and the food is 1st cabin....
[.

I think I got 2 eggs, sausage, two pancakes and coffee for around 5 bucks not to mention some good attention and road advice.

That is indeed Burr Trail and I'm thrilled to see what I missed out on. Looks like you can get east over to 95 or on 276 to that ferry. I'm suffering from GS envy. :bow :bow
 
Randy, great pics, tale, and road disclosure ;). Rode through the area in May and looking forward to a return! Having a GS I now have a great idea for area exploration.

So this road would be a faint road heading east out of Boulder?
 
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