Arches National Park in south-eastern Utah is a dramatic high-desert landscape sheltering more than 2000 natural sandstone arches shaped over millennia by erosion wind and water offering visitors world-class hiking photography and stargazing beneath some of America's most spectacular red rock scenery.
Utah: Hanksville
🌨️ From Capitol Reef to Moab — Frozen Butts and Glorious Skies
We packed up our things and left the genuinely breathtaking Capitol Reef National Park behind us — a place that, if you’ve not been, is rather spectacular and deserves far more attention than it typically gets from the tour bus crowd. Established as a national monument back in 1937 and upgraded to full National Park status in 1971, Capitol Reef sits quietly in the heart of Utah’s Colorado Plateau, and rather unfairly lives in the shadow of its flashier neighbours. But that’s another story. This particular morning, we pointed ourselves northwest and headed towards Moab — a town that’s essentially become the Disneyland of the Utah outdoors scene, and about as subtle as a foghorn at a funeral.
❄️ A Proper Winter Morning in Southern Utah
Now, a word about visiting this part of the world in winter. Southern Utah in summer is brutally, aggressively, offensively hot — we’re talking temperatures that would have our NHS GPs reaching for the heatstroke leaflets before you’d even stepped out of the hire car. Winter, on the other hand, swings firmly in the opposite direction and gives you cold that gets properly personal. We’re not talking a brisk London November morning where you think “ooh, I should’ve brought a scarf.” We’re talking the kind of cold that makes certain parts of your anatomy stage a formal protest.
📸 Hoarfrost, Blue Skies, and a Rather Good Morning Despite Ourselves
The day we set off from Capitol Reef, it was absolutely, unambiguously one of those freezing-your-backside-off mornings. However — and here’s where Utah redeems itself completely — the skies were a deep, almost implausible shade of blue. Not grey, not that flat English white that pretends to be sky, but a proper, saturated, almost Mediterranean blue that had absolutely no business being that colour in the middle of winter. The overnight temperatures had dropped well below freezing, and a heavy hoarfrost had settled across the entire landscape. Hoarfrost, for the uninitiated, is that extraordinary phenomenon where water vapour freezes directly onto surfaces — branches, fence posts, dead grasses — and coats everything in a thick, crystalline white fuzz that looks entirely fake, like someone has been rather heavy-handed with the spray-on snow at a garden centre Christmas display. The trees along our route were absolutely caked in the stuff, every branch outlined in white against that ridiculous blue sky. It was, frankly, the sort of scene that makes you pull over every ten minutes and reach for the camera, even if you know full well that no photograph is ever going to do it proper justice. We took rather a lot of photographs. Probably too many. But then that’s rather the point, isn’t it.
🏔️ 1. Factory Butte
Heading northwest along SR-24, Factory Butte is essentially impossible to miss — it sits on your left coming from Capitol Reef and frankly doesn’t do subtle. Roughly halfway between Capitol Reef and Hanksville, this flat-topped mesa hauls itself up to 6,302 feet (1,921 metres) out of the surrounding badlands, which are themselves so flat and featureless that the butte looks frankly enormous by comparison — like someone’s left a very large table in the middle of a car park.
Mormon settlers travelling through in the mid-1800s apparently looked up at it and were reminded of a mill factory back in Provo. You can see the logic, just about, if you squint a bit. The flat top does have a vaguely industrial geometry to it. Either way, the name stuck, and Factory Butte it remains — one of those Utah landmarks that sits there looking ancient and completely indifferent to your admiration.
🦕 2. Carl’s Critter Garden — Where Old Cars Go to Become Dinosaurs
Driving through the rather unremarkable little town of Hanksville on State Route 24, you absolutely cannot miss Carl’s Critter Garden — and believe me, we tried to figure out who on earth Carl actually is. Nobody seems entirely sure, which somehow makes the whole thing even better.
What Carl has created — presumably over many years of enthusiastic welding and a cheerful disregard for conventional garden ornaments — is a wonderfully eccentric collection of sculptures assembled entirely from the carcasses of old cars, agricultural machinery, and what appears to be whatever else happened to be lying around. The results are genuinely impressive. Dinosaurs, animals, human figures — all sorts emerge from the twisted metal, and the whole place carries an unmistakable message of peace and goodwill. Carl, whoever he is, appears to be something of a optimistic soul.
On the morning we passed through, every single sculpture was wearing a magnificent coat of hoarfrost, which, rather brilliantly, made the whole mad collection look even more otherworldly than it probably does on a normal day.
3. ⛽ Hollow Mountain — The Petrol Station That Ate a Rock
We’d seen some odd things on this trip, but nothing quite prepared us for Hollow Mountain. Sitting at the junction of Highways 24 and 95 in Hanksville, Utah, it announces itself as a petrol station — fuel pumps, forecourt, the lot — perfectly normal from the outside. Then you walk in, and realise you’re standing inside an actual hollowed-out hill.
This isn’t some ancient cave or geological curiosity that someone conveniently stuck a till into. In 1984, owner Harry Thompson looked at a perfectly solid sandstone hillside that was blocking his highway frontage and thought, quite reasonably, “I’ll just blast that out then.” And he did. The rock face is still visible near the loos, which is a sentence I never expected to write. Inside, it’s mostly your standard convenience store — snacks, drinks, road maps nobody buys anymore — except for the velociraptors near the entrance, because obviously. Utah being Utah, hollowed-out rock structures aren’t unheard of as living quarters elsewhere in the state, but this remains the only convenience store carved directly into sandstone. Brilliant, bonkers, and absolutely worth the detour.
🧌 4. Goblin Valley State Park
Heading north out of Hanksville on SR-24, the scenery starts doing rather impressive things to itself fairly quickly. After about 30 miles, signs appear for Goblin Valley State Park — and if you’ve never heard of it, you’re in good company, because most people haven’t.
Think of it as Bryce Canyon’s slightly odd, lesser-known cousin who nobody talks about at family gatherings, but who turns out to be considerably more interesting than expected. Like Bryce, Goblin Valley is absolutely stuffed with hoodoos — thousands of them — except here the locals have rather brilliantly renamed them goblins, which is frankly more honest. These are mushroom-shaped rock pinnacles, some reaching several metres tall, sculpted over millions of years by wind and water into shapes that genuinely look like something from a film set. There are trails throughout the park for casual walkers, and for those feeling considerably braver than us, canyoneering opportunities in the surrounding canyon system.
🗺️ Other Interesting Things to Do Around Hanksville
We stumbled upon Hanksville entirely by accident, which is, if we’re honest, probably the best way to discover anywhere genuinely worth knowing about. We hadn’t done a scrap of research beforehand — no TripAdvisor rabbit holes, no dog-eared guidebook pages, nothing. We simply turned up, which is either admirably spontaneous or hopelessly disorganised depending on your point of view. Probably the latter.
However, putting a bit of proper effort in for this blog post — something we clearly couldn’t manage before we actually visited — we dug around and discovered that the area has rather more going on than we’d given it credit for. There are several places nearby that we didn’t get to see and that are now firmly on the list for next time, assuming we can drag ourselves back to this particular and rather overlooked corner of southern Utah.
1. Mars Desert Research Center
Poking around the vast emptiness of desert outside the tiny town of Hanksville — population roughly 200, and that might be generous — you might stumble across something that looks like it’s been dropped there by accident. The Mars Desert Research Station, owned and run by the Mars Society, sits out in the Utah badlands looking every bit as strange and out of place as you’d expect a mock Martian habitat to look in the middle of the American Southwest.
The facility has been operating since 2001, sending volunteers out here for stretches at a time to simulate what daily life on another planet might actually look and feel like. The science is apparently quite serious, even if the setting looks faintly bonkers. Tours were available pre-Covid, though things were understandably shut down for a good while. Worth checking the website before making the trip out.
2. Wolverton Mill
Built in 1921 by mining engineer Edwin T. Wolverton, this rather battered-looking wooden mill has a story that’s equal parts ambition, stubbornness, and spectacular disappointment — which, frankly, makes it thoroughly relatable.
Wolverton arrived in the remote Henry Mountains region of Utah chasing rumours of a legendary Spanish gold mine. For twelve years he doggedly filed mining claims along Straight Creek on Mount Pennell, eventually establishing his own. The Henry Mountains themselves are a genuinely extraordinary place — among the last ranges in the contiguous United States to be mapped, they weren’t formally surveyed until the 1870s. Wolverton, however, found considerably less than the Spanish allegedly left behind, and after years of minimal success, quietly abandoned his dreams of lavish living and headed off to disappointment elsewhere.
The mill remained on Mount Pennell, slowly attracting vandals rather than gold, until the Bureau of Land Management sensibly relocated it in 1974 to Hanksville, where a full restoration was completed in 1988. It now sits at 406 South 100 West — a monument to magnificent optimism and very poor returns.
About Hanksville
🏜️ Hanksville, Utah
| 📍 Location | Hanksville, Wayne County, Utah 84734 |
|---|---|
| 🕖 Best Time to Visit | Spring (March–May) and Fall (September–October) for mild temperatures and ideal hiking/weather conditions |
| 🌐 Website | Town of Hanksville |
| 📞 Phone | 435-542-3451 |
| clerk@hanksvilleutah.gov |
Hanksville is a small desert town at the junction of Highways 24 and 95, serving as a gateway to some of Utah’s most dramatic landscapes including Capitol Reef National Park, Goblin Valley State Park, Factory Butte, the Henry Mountains, and Lake Powell.
🚗 How to Get There
| Nearest Airport | Canyonlands Regional Airport (CNY) — 105 miles, approx. 2 hours. Alternative airports: Salt Lake City International (SLC) — 250 miles (~4 hours) or Grand Junction Regional (GJT) — 180 miles (~3 hours). |
| From Salt Lake City | I-15 South to US-6 East via Spanish Fork, then UT-24 South through Green River and Torrey to Hanksville (~250 miles, 4–4.5 hours). |
| From Moab | US-191 South to I-70 West, then UT-24 South via Hanksville (~105 miles, 2 hours). |
| From Capitol Reef National Park | UT-24 East approximately 38 miles (~45 minutes). |
| From Bryce Canyon National Park | UT-12 East through Escalante, then UT-24 East (~145 miles, 3 hours). |
| By Bus | No scheduled public bus service. A rental car or private vehicle is strongly recommended. |
Hanksville is a small town of about 220 people is found at a crossroad that offers access to many of Utah’s top tourist attractions. Historically, this wild west town claimed a spot on the map because of the unlawful ramblings of Butch Cassidy and his gang. Their Robber’s Roost hideout was just south of town.
Hanksville is about 100 miles west of Moab and within the vicinity of many of Utah’s most visited national parks, monuments, and attractions.
Best Time to Visit Utah
🌸 Spring (March – May)
Spring is widely considered one of the finest times to explore Utah’s southern national parks. Temperatures are mild and pleasant, wildflowers begin to bloom across the desert plateaus, and the tourist crowds that descend in summer have yet to arrive in full force. Zion and Bryce Canyon are at their most accessible and inviting, with trails drying out after winter snowmelt and the landscape flushed with fresh colour.
March can still bring cold nights and lingering snow at higher elevations, particularly in Bryce Canyon, which sits above 2,400 metres. By April, conditions across most of the state are ideal for hiking, cycling, and photography. May is the sweet spot — warm days, cool evenings, manageable visitor numbers — though it does mark the beginning of the busier season, so booking accommodation in advance is advisable.
The Virgin River in Zion runs fast and murky with snowmelt through spring, which means the famous Narrows slot canyon hike may be restricted or closed. Always check conditions before setting out.
What to pack: Layering is essential — a lightweight down jacket, a waterproof shell, and moisture-wicking base layers cover the temperature swings. Comfortable hiking boots with ankle support, UV-protective sunglasses, a wide-brimmed hat, high-SPF suncream, and a reusable water bottle. Trekking poles are useful on muddy or uneven trails. Pack a light fleece for cool evenings and a small day pack for hiking.
☀️ Summer (June – August)
Summer brings the most visitors to Utah, and for good reason — long daylight hours, dry skies, and lively park atmospheres make it a popular choice for families and those seeking maximum outdoor time. However, it also brings intense heat, particularly in the lower desert parks. Arches and Canyonlands regularly exceed 38°C in July and August, making midday hiking genuinely dangerous. The sensible approach is to hike at dawn, retreat to shade or air-conditioned accommodation during peak afternoon heat, and venture out again in the early evening.
Bryce Canyon and Cedar Breaks, sitting at higher elevations, offer welcome relief from the heat and are excellent summer destinations. Southern Utah’s monsoon season typically begins in mid-July, bringing dramatic afternoon thunderstorms that can cause flash flooding in narrow slot canyons — always check weather forecasts before entering confined trails like The Narrows or Antelope Canyon.
For those willing to escape the crowds, northern Utah’s Uinta Mountains offer superb summer hiking and camping at elevation, with cooler temperatures and fewer visitors than the national parks.
What to pack: Lightweight, breathable clothing in light colours, a sun hat and UV-protective sunglasses, a high-SPF suncream (SPF 50+), a hydration pack or multiple large water bottles, electrolyte tablets, and a headlamp for early starts. A light waterproof layer for afternoon monsoon storms, quick-dry fabrics, and sandals for camp. Insect repellent is useful for forested areas. Book campsites and accommodation months in advance.
🍂 Autumn (September – November)
Autumn rivals spring as the best overall season to visit Utah. The crushing summer heat begins to ease by September, crowds thin considerably after the American Labour Day holiday in early September, and the landscape transforms with spectacular warm tones. Cottonwood trees along canyon floors turn gold, scrub oak flushes red and orange, and the clear blue skies of September and October provide perfect conditions for photography.
October is many experienced visitors’ preferred month — daytime temperatures hover around a comfortable 15–22°C in most parks, the light is rich and golden, and the national parks feel spacious and unhurried once again. Higher elevation areas such as the Wasatch Front and the Uintas begin to see snow from October onwards, marking the start of the ski season build-up. November brings cooler temperatures and the possibility of early snowfall at elevation, which can be beautiful but requires additional preparation.
The Zion Narrows, often inaccessible in spring due to high water levels, is typically at its finest in late summer and early autumn when flows are low and temperatures are manageable.
What to pack: Versatile layering including a mid-weight fleece, a windproof and waterproof outer jacket, and light base layers. Sturdy hiking boots, warm socks, and a woolly hat and gloves for higher elevations. Sunglasses and suncream remain essential even in autumn. A small tripod is worth carrying for golden-hour photography. Neoprene socks and a walking pole if attempting The Narrows, and waterproof trousers for wet canyon hikes.
❄️ Winter (December – February)
Winter in Utah is a tale of two experiences. For skiers and snowboarders, it is nothing short of exceptional. The Wasatch Range near Salt Lake City — home to resorts including Park City, Alta, Snowbird, Deer Valley, and Solitude — regularly receives some of the deepest, lightest powder snow in the world. Utah’s ski season typically runs from November through April, with peak conditions in January and February.
The national parks take on an entirely different and deeply beautiful character in winter. Bryce Canyon’s pink and orange hoodoos dusted with snow are among the most photographed sights in the American West. Crowds are minimal, accommodation prices drop significantly, and the silence of the desert in winter is profound. However, many trails become icy and require microspikes or snowshoes, and some park roads close seasonally.
Temperatures at night in the southern parks can drop to -10°C or below, and roads to higher viewpoints may be closed. Despite these challenges, winter offers a genuinely magical and uncrowded way to experience Utah for those prepared for cold conditions.
What to pack: For skiing: thermal base layers, ski-specific mid-layers, a waterproof and insulated ski jacket and trousers, ski socks, goggles, a helmet, and neck gaiter. For national park visits: a heavy insulated jacket, waterproof trousers, thermal underlayers, sturdy waterproof boots, warm hat, gloves and scarf, microspikes or snowshoes, hand warmers, and a thermos. Suncream is still necessary as UV reflection off snow is intense.
🏆 The Overall Best Time to Visit
If you are planning your first — or only — trip to Utah and want the ideal balance of weather, trail access, scenery, and manageable crowds, late September to mid-October stands out as the single finest window. The summer heat has passed, the monsoon storms have largely subsided, and the autumn colours add warmth and drama to landscapes that are already extraordinary. Most trails are fully open, temperatures are comfortable from morning to evening, and the parks feel genuinely peaceful compared to the height of summer. Spring — particularly April and early May — runs a very close second, offering similar conditions alongside the freshness of wildflowers and snowmelt-fed waterfalls. Whichever season draws you, Utah rewards the prepared traveller with scenery that is, quite simply, unlike anywhere else on earth.
Other places close by worth visiting
1. Arches National Park
Arches National Park sits in the high desert of eastern Utah, USA, and is home to over 2,000 natural sandstone arches — more than anywhere else on earth. The landscape is stark and dry, shaped by millions of years of erosion, freezing and thawing, and the slow movement of salt beneath the ground. The rock glows red and orange in the sun, and the arches themselves range from small openings you might barely notice to massive spans like Delicate Arch, which stands 20 metres tall and has become something of a symbol for the state of Utah. The park sits at around 1,200 to 1,700 metres above sea level, which means summers are hot but not unbearable, and winters bring occasional snow that settles briefly on the warm-coloured stone. Walking trails vary from short, easy paths to longer routes over uneven slickrock. It is a popular destination, particularly in spring and autumn, and visitor numbers have grown significantly in recent years, so the park now requires timed entry permits during busy periods. It is a straightforward but genuinely striking place — the sort of landscape that is hard to picture until you are standing in it.
2. Bryce Canyon
Bryce Canyon National Park sits in the high plateaus of south-western Utah, in the United States, at an elevation of roughly 2,400 to 2,700 metres above sea level. Despite its name, it is not actually a canyon but rather a series of natural amphitheatres carved into the edge of a plateau by millions of years of erosion. The park is best known for its hoodoos — tall, thin columns of rock left standing after wind, rain, and frost gradually wore away the softer material around them. These formations come in shades of orange, red, and cream, which tend to look especially vivid in the early morning and late afternoon light. The park receives around 1.5 million visitors a year, drawn by the scenery and the network of walking trails that range from short, easy paths along the rim to longer, steeper routes that descend into the amphitheatres. Winters are cold and snowy, and the snow cover against the red rock is a feature in its own right. Summers are warm during the day but can be cool at night due to the altitude. The area is also noted for its dark skies, which make it a reasonable spot for stargazing away from city light pollution.
3. Canyonlands National Park
Canyonlands is a vast stretch of rugged desert landscape in south-eastern Utah, carved over millions of years by the Colorado and Green rivers. The park covers around 1,370 square kilometres and is divided into four districts — Island in the Sky, The Needles, The Maze, and the river corridors — each with its own character and level of accessibility. The terrain is dramatic, made up of deep canyons, flat-topped mesas, and weathered rock formations in shades of red, orange, and brown. It is a genuinely remote place; roads are limited, mobile signal is sparse, and some areas require a high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicle or several days on foot to reach. The weather can be extreme, with fierce summer heat and cold winters, so most visitors tend to come in spring or autumn. Wildlife includes coyotes, ravens, lizards, and the occasional desert bighorn sheep. There are no large towns nearby, and facilities within the park are minimal, so visitors are expected to come well prepared with food, water, and a clear plan. It is not a particularly comfortable place to explore, but for those who are drawn to open, unspoilt landscapes, it has a quiet and lasting appeal.
4. Zion National Park
covers around 230 square miles of canyon country. The park’s most striking feature is Zion Canyon, a narrow gorge carved over millions of years by the Virgin River, with sandstone walls that rise up to 800 metres in places. The rock shifts between deep reds, oranges, and creams depending on the light and time of day. Visitors come to walk the park’s varied trails, from flat riverside paths to steeper routes that follow chains bolted into the rock face. The most well-known of these, Angels Landing, ends at a narrow ridge above the canyon floor and requires a permit to access. Wildlife is common throughout — deer, wild turkeys, and California condors are regularly spotted. The park receives well over four million visitors a year, making it one of the busiest in the United States, so early mornings tend to be quieter. Entry is straightforward, and a shuttle bus runs through the main canyon during the busier months.
More to Explore
