What distinguishes this drive from other canyon drives in southern Utah is that while it does follow a narrow canyon with steep sandstone walls, it also follows the Colorado River--a fairly substantial body of water. This is one of the few places in the state where you have the opportunity to drive beside one of the major rivers that cut the dramatic gorges for which this part of the country is famous. In fact, UT 128 is the only road that runs along either the Colorado or the Green River. This is a favorite area for both bicyclists and river floaters, and you are likely to see both on this drive. The rafters are fun to watch, the cyclists require your attention .
A GORP Content Partner
Adapted from
Scenic Driving Utah
by Joe Bensen
Driving the Colorado River
Moab to Interstate 70
General description: A 44-mile run through the redrock canyon carved by the Colorado River, then across the desert to the major east-west travel corridor of central Utah.
Special attractions: Colorado River, Professor Valley, Fisher Towers, views of the La Sal Mountains.
Location: Southeastern Utah.
Drive route number and name: Utah Highway 128, Colorado River Scenic Byway.
Travel season: Year-round.
Camping: Limited established campgrounds, but unlimited opportunities for primitive camping on BLM land. One BLM campground at Big Bend Recreation Area, commercial campgrounds at Moab. Services: All services in Moab; no services along the route.
Nearby attractions: Negro Bill Canyon hikes, La Sal Mountain Scenic Backway, Sego Canyon Rock Art Site.
The Drive This is a relatively short drive; at 44 miles it makes a nice afternoon excursion from Moab. Though short, note that you will not find services along this drive until Crescent Junction or Grand Junction (depending on your direction) if you are not returning via this route to Moab. So be sure to gas up in Moab and bring as much food and drink as you will need for the drive.
There are two options to make a longer outing of this drive: you might loop back to the west on the interstate, then return to Moab via U.S. Highway 191, 31 miles south of the Crescent Junction exit; or you might combine this drive with the La Sal Mountain Loop on your return to Moab. This drive also makes an attractive connecting route from the canyon country of southeastern Utah to the interstate and points beyond.
Leave Moab on US 191 north, as if headed to Arches. Just before the Colorado River (a mile or so out of Moab) is the turnoff on the right for UT 128. A little more than 3 miles from the start of UT 128 you will reach the pullout on the right for Negro Bill Canyon. Named for the early settler William Granstaff, who kept cattle in the canyon, this is the location of one of the most popular short trails in the Moab area. This moderate trail is just under 2 miles and ends at Morning Glory Natural Bridge. At 243 feet, this is the sixth longest natural bridge in the nation.
About 4 miles beyond Negro Bill Canyon is Big Bend Recreation Area. There is an established campground here, although all along UT 128 on both sides of the road (primarily on the left/river side) there are plenty of undeveloped camping sites--designated for camping but without facilities or water. At about mile 15 from the start of UT 128 the canyon opens up at Professor Valley, where you pass some ranches and areas under cultivation. This area is famous in film history as the site of such films as: Rio Grande, Ten Who Dared, Wagon Master, Rio Conchos, Cheyenne Autumn, The Commancheros, Against a Crooked Sky, and Choke Canyon.
Approximately 16 miles from Moab is the turnoff on the right for Castle Valley and the La Sal Mountain Scenic Backway. This very attractive, 60-mile desert/alpine loop is mostly paved and comes out on US 191 6 miles south of Moab. This also makes a nice afternoon excursion from Moab, returning you to town for the night. The drive takes from two to four hours to complete and is driveable in most passenger vehicles. A couple of steep and narrow switchbacks make this drive impractical for larger RVs and trailers. The route is impassable when snow-covered.
Attractions along the drive include the beautiful woodlands of the Manti-La Sal National Forest and terrific views of the La Sals, the Abajo Mountains, Arches, and Canyonlands. One of the bloodiest confrontations between white settlers and Indians in Utah history took place at Pinhook Draw on the northwest edge of the La Sals. A band of Paiutes ambushed a posse that was after them for the murder of two ranchers. Nine members of the posse and an unknown number of Indians died in the ensuing fight. A monument to the battle has been erected alongside the road.
Once you enter Professor Valley, the view ahead is dominated by Fisher Towers, rising some 1,500 feet above the surrounding desert. To visit Fisher Towers do not take the first dirt road on your right in Professor Valley (well marked for Fisher Valley Ranch/Taylor Livestock). This is a really nice, fun drive on good dirt road (for any vehicle but RVs/trailers) along Onion Creek, with excellent scenery, but it is not the road to Fisher Towers.
The proper turnoff for Fisher Towers is well marked, about 0.75 mile past Fisher Valley Road. It is about a mile to the parking area/information board at the trailhead. From here, if you look straight back from where you've come (southwest), there is an excellent view of Castle Rock (also known as Castleton Spires/Castleton Rock), where a famous Chevy commercial was filmed in the 1960s. Castleton is the largest spire; to the right is a large blocky formation called The Rectory, then two smaller spires called the Nuns, and a final spire called the Priest. The Fisher Towers Trail is a somewhat-grueling 2.2 miles, but definitely worth the hike if it is not too hot. There is no water and there are lots of ups and downs, but the views of the towers are interesting as you contour around their base from north to south.
Five miles or so past Fisher Towers, as the highway rises up toward a gap, look back for really terrific views of the Fisher Towers with a backdrop of the La Sal Mountains and the Colorado River in the foreground. This view encapsulates all that is best about Utah roadside scenery: desert spires, snow-capped peaks, and a rugged, river-worn desert gorge.
A few miles past this viewpoint is Middle Bottom Recreation Area, the put-in for most of the commercial float trip companies out of Moab. Approximately 29 miles from Moab you cross the Colorado at Dewey Bridge. Just after the bridge, look on your right for an extremely interesting roadside folk-art site at an old Texaco station, covered with religious, patriotic, and moralistic slogans, photographs, American flags, the Ten Commandments, and other good stuff.
Beyond Dewey Bridge the scenery decreases in interest. At this point you may decide to return to Moab (or perhaps do the La Sal Mountain Loop), unless you intend to access the interstate. Past Dewey Bridge the road follows the river for a few miles, then strikes out across the desert. Once out of the confines of the river valley, you can see how much the land depends on the river: this is very much scrub desert for the next 5 miles. At about this point, the scenery stops being picturesque; while certainly interesting, the landscape is definitely not pretty.
Fortunately, this drive need not actually go to the townsite of Cisco, which is about 2.5 miles on the right at the end of UT 128. Poor, bedraggled Cisco could win prizes for unsightliness; there is nothing here but boarded-up, falling-apart houses--no store, no gas station, no permanent residents. It is pretty much a twentieth-century ghost town. Turn left at the end of UT 128 and it is just under 3 miles to the interstate entrance.
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