Cedar City sits at 5,846 feet on the western edge of the Markagunt Plateau, which is a technical way of saying the town is parked at the seam where desert stops and mountain begins. Drive twenty minutes east and you are in pines. Twenty minutes south and you are staring at 2,000 foot sandstone walls.
What surprised me after moving from the Midwest is not that the scenery is dramatic. It is how fast it changes. You can start a morning in high desert and eat lunch on an alpine rim above 10,000 feet. Elevation works like a season selector here. When the valley is hot, you go up. When the mountain is buried, you go down and south.
Cedar Canyon and Highway 14
State Route 14 leaves the east side of town and climbs into Cedar Canyon, running 41 miles to Long Valley Junction. It is the most useful road in the area.
The climb is steep and fast. You leave town at 5,846 feet and top out on the plateau above 9,000 feet, moving from red rock walls into ponderosa, spruce, and aspen. Around mile 16, an overlook faces south through the trees toward the canyons of Zion. Around mile 24, the Navajo Lake overlook. Around mile 28, the turnoff for Strawberry Point, another 7.5 miles on improved dirt, for hoodoos and layered cliffs falling away.
Best season: late spring through fall. Fall is the standout, when aspen turn on the plateau while the valley is still warm.
Practical note: this canyon has a history of moving. A rockfall in 2011 destroyed roughly 1,300 feet of roadway and closed the highway for over seven months. Grades are steep enough that oversized vehicles are restricted, and a clear valley does not mean a clear canyon.
Cedar Breaks and Brian Head
Cedar Breaks is the one I take every visitor to, because it does not photograph the way it feels. A natural amphitheater roughly three miles across and over 2,000 feet deep, eroded into red and orange limestone, rim above 10,000 feet, visitor center at 10,350. The Paiute called it the Circle of Painted Cliffs.
It is about half an hour from town: east on Highway 14, then north on State Route 148, which runs about 2.5 miles to the monument boundary. Keep north and you pick up State Route 143, the Patchwork Parkway, a 51 mile byway from Parowan to Panguitch topping out at 10,626 feet, the second highest paved road in the state. It carries you to Brian Head, the highest incorporated town in Utah at roughly 9,771 feet, with a ski resort that opened in 1964 and close to 356 inches of average annual snow. The peak above it reaches 11,312 feet, drivable in summer.
Best season: Cedar Breaks wildflowers peak in July and August and the alpine meadows are absurd. Brian Head is winter skiing and summer mountain biking.
Practical note: Highway 148 and the monument rim road close to vehicles around mid-November and typically do not reopen until mid to late May. In winter you reach the rim on skis, snowshoes, or a snowmobile from plowed parking at the Highway 14 and 148 junction, about 3.5 miles out from Point Supreme. Highway 143 stays plowed in daylight hours, with snow tires or chains generally required from late November into March. Cedar Breaks is an International Dark Sky Park, so on a clear night, stay for it.
Navajo Lake, Duck Creek, and the Dixie National Forest
All of this sits inside the Dixie National Forest, nearly two million acres across roughly 170 miles of southern Utah and the largest national forest in the state. Its Cedar City Ranger District covers the Markagunt Plateau, with a visitor center at Duck Creek.
Navajo Lake sits above 9,000 feet, about 40 minutes east of town off Highway 14. It formed when a lava flow dammed the valley, and it drains partly through sinkholes in that lava, which is exactly as strange as it sounds. It holds rainbow and brook trout plus splake, a sterile hybrid brought in to control Utah chub. Duck Creek Village sits nearby at 8,507 feet on the edge of Cedar Mountain, the hub for this stretch of forest: campgrounds, trails, ATV riding in summer, snowmobiling in winter.
Best season: June through October for the lake, aspen color in late September, deep winter for snow machines.
Practical note: this is the coolest air within reach of Cedar City. When the valley is in the 90s in July, the plateau runs far cooler. Bring a layer even in midsummer. Evenings above 9,000 feet turn cold fast.
Kolob Canyons: the quiet half of Zion
Most people do not realize Zion National Park has a northwest section 17 miles south of Cedar City, right off Interstate 15 at Exit 40. It is the most underrated drive in the region.
The scenic road runs five miles, climbing from about 5,000 feet to 6,300 feet, and dead ends at a viewpoint into finger canyons walled by 2,000 foot cliffs. Thirty minutes of driving. Timber Creek Overlook is short and easy. Taylor Creek Middle Fork follows the water past historic cabins to Double Arch Alcove. La Verkin Creek goes deeper, toward Kolob Arch.
Best season: spring and fall. Late afternoon into twilight is when the walls light up.
Practical note: you need a Zion or interagency pass, and the visitor center is open year round, but snow and ice can close the scenic drive in winter. No shuttle, no timed entry. This is the part of Zion you can visit on a whim.
Zion main canyon
The famous one is about 60 miles and roughly an hour out: Interstate 15 south to Exit 27, then Route 17 and Route 9 east into Springdale. Living this close to Zion is a privilege, and it comes with an operating manual.
Best season: spring and fall. Summer is hot and crowded. Winter is quiet and beautiful.
Practical note: during shuttle season the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive is closed to private vehicles. Shuttles run daily March through November and again near the end of December. They are free and need no reservation, and the park has no timed entry, but you pay the entrance fee. Angels Landing requires a lottery permit, and same day permits are not issued. The Zion-Mount Carmel Highway and Kolob Canyons Road stay drivable year round.
Bryce Canyon National Park
Bryce is about 80 miles out, an hour and a half to two hours depending on route and conditions. The scenic summer way is east on Highway 14 to US-89, north to Highway 12, then Highway 63.
The visitor center sits at 7,894 feet and the rim runs roughly 8,000 to 9,000 feet, with Rainbow Point at 9,105 feet at the end of an 18 mile scenic drive. The hoodoos, pinnacles up to 200 feet tall, come from frost weathering: water freezing and thawing in the rock, over and over. It is a Dark Sky Park with one of the darkest skies on the continent.
Best season: all four. Bryce in snow, white on orange, is one of the great sights in the West.
Practical note: Bryce averages close to 87 inches of snow a year, with January lows around 9 degrees. Roads are plowed and the park stays open, but individual roads close during and right after storms.
Parowan Gap: the desert side
Not everything worth seeing is up. North of town, past Enoch on the Minersville Highway roughly 13 miles and then east, a notch cuts through the Red Hills. The Parowan Gap holds a significant concentration of petroglyphs, plus later markings from Spanish explorers and 19th century pioneers. Gravel lot, interpretive signs, a pavilion, a vault toilet.
Best season: spring and fall, or early mornings in summer. Exposed desert, no shade.
Practical note: there is no running water and cell service is not reliable. Bring your own water, and do not touch the panels. Skin oils damage them.
Altitude, sun, and the late summer storms
Altitude is not a formality. The Park Service flags altitude sickness, dehydration, sun exposure, hypothermia, and lightning as the main hazards at Cedar Breaks. Give yourself a few days at valley elevation before a big effort up high, drink more water than feels necessary, and turn around if someone gets a headache with nausea. Sun at elevation in dry air is a different animal than sun at sea level, and cloud cover is not protection.
Then there is the monsoon. Roughly July through September, afternoon thunderstorms build fast across the Southwest. Flash floods hit canyons miles from where the rain actually falls, and lightning can strike as far as 60 miles from the storm producing it. Check the forecast for your area and the terrain upstream, finish canyon hikes by late morning, and never drive into flooded roadway.
Weather here is elevation dependent, not calendar dependent. A pleasant 85 degree afternoon in town can be a 55 degree squall on the rim at the same hour.
What I'd do first
- Drive Highway 14 to the 148 junction and up to Cedar Breaks on a clear summer or early fall day. Under an hour of driving, and the shortest route to understanding what this area is.
- Give one afternoon to Kolob Canyons. Exit 40, five miles of road, one overlook trail. The best return on time within an hour of town.
- Check conditions first. Road status for Highway 14 and 148, the forecast for the elevation you are going to, and park alerts for Zion or Bryce.