Scenic Byway 143

Scenic Byway 143 climbs faster and higher than any road in this guide, and it has the strangest name. Officially it is State Route 143, the Brian Head–Panguitch Lake Scenic Byway; nearly everyone calls it the Patchwork Parkway, after a piece of local history. In the winter of 1864, settlers from the young town of Panguitch, cut off and short of food, are said to have crossed the deep plateau snow toward Parowan by laying handmade quilts on the crust to keep from sinking through — and the name stuck, a patchwork stitched across the mountain.

The drive is a fast vertical climb out of the desert. It begins at Parowan, just off I-15, at about 6,000 feet, and immediately enters Parowan Canyon, gaining roughly 4,400 feet in less than ten miles of switchbacks. In that short distance it crosses six major life zones — from sagebrush flats to alpine forest — and tops out near 10,626 feet by Cedar Breaks, which makes it the second-highest paved road in Utah after the Mirror Lake Highway. The fifty-one miles end gently, descending through forest to the pioneer town of Panguitch on US-89.

What is strung along it is the appeal. The byway climbs past Brian Head, Utah's highest town and southernmost ski resort, then skirts the rim of Cedar Breaks National Monument, a 2,000-foot amphitheater of pink and orange rock eroded from the Claron Formation. It crosses high meadows, slides past lava flows only a few thousand years old, and runs along the eastern shore of Panguitch Lake, a Blue Ribbon trout fishery at 8,400 feet, before the long descent through South Canyon. Historic Mormon pioneer towns bookend the route — Parowan, settled in 1851, and Panguitch, whose original townsite is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

One caveat worth planning around: this is a summer-and-fall road. The high section over the plateau closes under snow and Cedar Breaks itself is shut for winter, so the byway is best driven roughly from late spring through October. When it is open, it is one of the great short drives in the state — a 4,500-foot climb from desert to alpine and back, packed into an afternoon.

The Drive, Stop by Stop

5 stops along the route, in driving order from Parowan to Panguitch.

1. 1

   Parowan Gap Petroglyphs

   Parowan

   A short detour northwest of Parowan, where the byway begins — a desert gap whose rock faces hold one of the densest panels of Native American petroglyphs in the West. Worth the side trip before you start the climb.

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2. 2

   Brian Head

   Brian Head

   The climb's payoff and Utah's highest town, around 9,800 feet — a ski resort in winter, a mountain-bike and escape-the-heat base in summer. The summit road up 11,312-foot Brian Head Peak, with its 1930s stone shelter and hundred-mile view, branches off just to the north.

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3. 3

   Cedar Breaks National Monument

   Brian Head

   The headline stop: a 2,000-foot amphitheater of pink, orange, and coral rock eroded from the Claron Formation, rimmed at over 10,000 feet. Reached by the short UT-148 spur off the byway; the rim drive and overlooks are open summer through fall only.

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4. 4

   Panguitch Lake

   Panguitch

   The byway runs along the eastern shore of this Blue Ribbon trout lake at 8,400 feet — rainbow, cutthroat, and tiger trout, some of the largest in the state. The cool, blue counterweight to the red rock back at Cedar Breaks, and the last big stop before the descent to Panguitch.

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5. 5

   Panguitch

   Panguitch

   The byway's eastern end at US-89 — a pioneer town settled in 1864 whose original townsite is on the National Register, known for its red-brick homes and quilt-walk history. A natural overnight and the junction toward Bryce Canyon and Scenic Byway 12.

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That's the drive. Take your time, pull over often, and let Scenic Byway 143 do what it does best.