Cottonwood Canyon Road Scenic Backway is a great winter trip because the ground is frozen, which keeps the dust down, and there are very few vehicles on the road. (Pictures were taken several years ago.)
The road starts in Cannonville, just a few miles from Bryce Canyon National Park, and is paved for the first few miles, then the road turns to dirt with limited maintenance. Without a high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicle, the road should not be attempted after a heavy rain or during certain times of the year when the ground is soft. (Check road conditions at the Cannonville visitors center for up-to-date road information.)
After leaving Cannonville, the first stop along the road is Kodachrome Basin State Park, which received its name in 1948 from the staff of National Geographic Society when they were in the area testing their new Kodachrome color film. They found the monolithic stone spires (called sedimentary pipes) and 180 million years old multi-hued sandstone layers to be so photogenic that they actually ran out of film. Since this is a Utah State Park, there is a really nice campground.
Continuing down Cottonwood Canyon road for about another 10 miles is Grosvenor Arch, which was named to honor Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor (1875-1966), a president of the National Geographic Society and the first full-time editor of National Geographic Magazine.
The double arch is about 150 feet high and is very impressive looking from the road. It is possible to reach the base of the arch on a handicap accessible concrete walk. For a number of years the arch was part of Kodachrome Basin, but it now falls within the boundaries of Grand Stairicase Escalante National Monument.
Continuing down the canyon are the hiking trails for the Cottonwood Narrows and Hackberry Canyon, but we did not have time to stop and hike at these locations.
After 46 miles, Cottonwood Canyon Road connects to US Highway 89 just to the east of Old Paria, a ghost town movie set that burned down.
Pipe Springs National Monument (located across the border in Arizona) is a good example of early Mormon pioneer history.
Antonio Armijo discovered Pipe Springs in 1829 when he was establishing the Armijo Route, which was became part of the Old Spanish Trail. Then, in the 1860s Mormon pioneers started ranching in the area and after the Black Hawk War started a fort was built over the main spring in 1872. The next year the LDS Church purchased the property and named it the Pipe Springs Ranch, but later lost ownership through penalties involved in the Federal Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887. In 1907 the Kaibab Paiute Indian Reservation was established surrounding the ranch, so the Federal goernment purchased the ranch and set it aside as a nation monument as as example of early western pioneer life.
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