Custer State Park is one of the largest state parks in the country, with free roaming bison, famous scenic drives, and granite peaks in the Black Hills. From Wildlife Loop Road to Sylvan Lake and Black Elk Peak, the park rewards visitors who slow down, drive early, and let wildlife set the pace.
Humbolt Redwoods State Park feels like the national parks many of us imagined before we ever visited one. Driving the Avenue of the Giants places you beside massive old growth redwoods, quiet picnic areas, and historic campgrounds. This scenic road delivers scale, atmosphere, and a timeless park vibe without the crowds or complexity of a national park.
The Capitol Reef Scenic Drive delivers big scenery with very little effort. Towering cliffs rise from just beyond the road as colors shift with every mile. It’s a drive made for pullouts, lawn chairs, and taking your time. Start with a stop at the Gifford Homestead for pies, then enjoy the views all the way to Capitol Gorge.
Hell’s Backbone Road is a remote alternative to Utah State Route 12, climbing into the high country between Boulder and Escalante. Built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, this mostly gravel drive passes through forested terrain and offers dramatic overlooks, including the narrow Hell’s Backbone Bridge above the Box-Death Hollow Wilderness.
Driving the Shafer Trail from the canyon floor to the rim is one of the most memorable experiences in Canyonlands National Park. This unpaved road climbs 1,500 feet through tight switchbacks carved into a sheer cliff, offering a thrilling but manageable drive when conditions are right and you take your time.
The Burr Trail is a 66-mile drive through some of the most geologically dramatic terrain in southern Utah. Once a cattle route and later a Cold War mining road, it now offers one of the most memorable drives in the American West, including steep switchbacks, wide open desert, and a deep sense of place.
Most of our park visits revolve around hiking, but the Zion–Mount Carmel Highway is an exception. This is a drive where the journey is the main event. With different views in each direction and easy access to the Canyon Overlook Trail, it is one of our favorite ways to experience Zion National Park.
Driving the Moki Dugway is as much about the views as the road itself. Carved into the side of Cedar Mesa, the short stretch of switchbacks delivers sweeping desert vistas and unforgettable perspectives into Valley of the Gods. It’s one of those rare scenic drives where the journey is the highlight, not just the destination.
Valley of the Gods delivers some of the most spectacular desert scenery in southeast Utah, with towering red rock buttes spread across a wide, open valley. The 17-mile loop is an unrushed, unforgettable drive, especially at sunrise or sunset. Just be sure to drive it only when the road is dry and allow one to two hours.