Season

Summer

61 destinations along 39 roads

Summer is when the West is busiest and least forgiving. The low desert bakes past anything you should hike into by midday, so the season belongs to the high country — alpine lakes, cool canyon rivers, and evenings that stretch to nine o'clock. Start early, carry more water than feels reasonable, and let the afternoon thunderstorms move you to shade. Done with sense, it is the season of long days and everything open; done carelessly, it is the season the desert wins.

UT-101

Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry

Cleveland

The densest concentration of Jurassic-era dinosaur bones ever found

Scenic Byway 1211

Boulder

One of the last places in America to receive paved road access

Boulder Mountain

Boulder

A 50-mile forested plateau at 11,000 feet with 80 alpine lakes

Cannonville

Gateway to Kodachrome Basin and the Grand Staircase

Escalante

The town that gave Grand Staircase-Escalante its name

Hells Backbone Grill

Boulder

A farm-to-table pioneer in the middle of nowhere

Henrieville

A blink-and-you-will-miss-it ranching hamlet

Kiva Koffeehouse

Escalante

A hand-built cliffside coffee shop with canyon views

Lower Calf Creek Falls

Escalante

A 126-foot waterfall hidden in a desert canyon

Mossy Cave Trail

Tropic

A hidden waterfall and ice cave just off the highway

Red Canyon

Panguitch

A blazing red gateway carved by water and wind

The Hogback

Boulder

A knife-edge ridge with 1000-foot drops on both sides

I-151

Lagoon Amusement Park

Farmington

A beloved family amusement park operating since 1886

UT-251

Fishlake National Forest

Richfield

Home to Pando — the largest living organism on Earth

NV-281

Sand Harbor

Incline Village

The crown of Lake Tahoe's Nevada shore—car-sized granite boulders standing in water so clear the boats above them seem to float on air, on a beach the Washoe kept for thousands of summers

NV-28 / US-50 (Spooner Summit)1

The Flume Trail & Marlette Lake

Carson City

The other thing the Comstock took off Lake Tahoe—not its trees but its water, hauled over a mountain range through the highest-pressure pipeline on earth, on a flume grade that is now one of the country's great mountain-bike rides

I-40 / I-171

Flagstaff

The ponderosa town where they found Pluto and saved the dark

US-402

Dinosaur National Monument

Jensen

A wall of 1,500 dinosaur bones still embedded in the rock where they were found

Jordanelle State Park

Heber City

A sapphire reservoir nestled between the Wasatch and Uinta mountains

UT-441

Sheep Creek Canyon Geological Loop

Manila

A drive through twisted and upturned rock layers spanning 600 million years

US-501

Glenbrook & Spooner Summit

Carson City

Lake Tahoe's east shore, where the basin was logged nearly clean to timber the Comstock—the forest that paid for the silver, and the century it has spent growing back

US-60 / SR-2601

Show Low

The Rim-country town a losing hand of cards named

US-60 / US-1801

Casa Malpais

Springerville

The Mogollon great house on the lava, and the catacombs sealed back shut

I-701

Fremont Indian State Park

Richfield

The largest known Fremont Indian village ever discovered

I-70 / US-1911

Green River

A small desert town famous for its melons and river adventures

I-801

Bonneville Salt Flats

Wendover

A blindingly white desert where land speed records are born

UT-831

Golden Spike National Historical Park

Brigham City

Where East met West — the spot that connected America by rail

US-897

American West Heritage Center

Wellsville

A living history farm spanning 160 acres of Cache Valley

Bear Lake Raspberry Shakes

Garden City

Legendary raspberry milkshakes from locally grown berries

Jardine Juniper

Logan

One of the oldest living trees in the world at over 1,500 years old

Logan Canyon

Logan

A winding National Scenic Byway through limestone cliffs and alpine forest

Manti-La Sal National Forest

Manti

Alpine peaks rising above red rock desert

Sunset Crater Volcano

Flagstaff

The volcano northern Arizona watched erupt, around 1085

Wind Cave Trail

Logan

A short hike to a triple-arched limestone cave overlooking the canyon

US-89/911

Wellsville Mountains

Wellsville

The steepest mountains in North America for their height

UT-921

Timpanogos Cave National Monument

American Fork

Three spectacularly decorated caves connected by hand-carved tunnels

UT-1011

Hyrum State Park

Hyrum

A family-friendly reservoir at the mouth of Blacksmith Fork Canyon

UT-1111

Bingham Canyon Mine

Copperton

The largest man-made excavation on Earth

UT-1481

Cedar Breaks National Monument

Brian Head

A 2,000-foot-deep amphitheater of vivid orange and red rock

UT-1504

Bald Mountain Pass

Kamas

The highest point on the Mirror Lake Highway at 10,715 feet

Mirror Lake

Kamas

A pristine alpine lake reflecting the Uinta peaks like glass

Ruth Lake

Kamas

A hidden alpine gem reached by a short trail through wildflower meadows

Trial Lake

Kamas

A popular high-alpine fishing lake surrounded by granite peaks

NV-1571

Mount Charleston & the Spring Mountains

Las Vegas

A nearly 12,000-foot sky island 35 miles from the Strip — alpine forest above the Mojave

US-1801

San Francisco Peaks

Flagstaff

The sacred mountain of the west — 12,633 feet, and a live argument

US-1891

Bridal Veil Falls

Provo

A dramatic double waterfall cascading 607 feet into Provo Canyon

US-1913

Arches National Park

Moab

Over 2,000 natural stone arches in one extraordinary landscape

Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area

Manila

A turquoise reservoir carved into blazing red canyon walls

Steinaker State Park

Vernal

A warm-water reservoir popular for swimming in the desert heat

NV-2251

Jarbidge

The end of the road, twice over — Nevada's most isolated town, deep in a canyon on the Idaho line, where the West's last gold rush and its last stagecoach robbery both played out.

NV-2271

Lamoille Canyon & the Ruby Mountains

Lamoille

The great exception to Nevada's sagebrush monotony — a glacier-carved canyon and a wall of eleven-thousand-foot granite peaks an hour southeast of Elko, fairly called the state's Alps.