
Kolob Road coming out of Virgin, Utah
I'm here to blow the cover off the best motorcycle road you've never heard of. Somebody's probably going to hate me for this.
This is such a minor road that, as you can see, the mapping software doesn't even show it when I zoom back enough to get it all in. Trust me it's there.
And where is there? This is Kolob Road, going north out of Virgin, Utah. It runs up into Zion National Park but there is no sign of any kind telling you that. The only reason we found it was that my wife did some research before we headed for Utah last month, and she discovered it.
What a discovery! I would rank this hands down as the highlight of our entire trip. You can take a look at the pictures in the slide show below to get an idea of what I mean.
This little strip of two-lane, red(!) asphalt climbs and winds high into the park and the views are incredible. At one point you want desperately to look at the view but the road is narrow and steep and you don't dare. Find a place to park and walk back down if you want to see it.
I've been through Zion quite a few times and I have got to rank this as the best part of the entire park. And almost nobody knows about it! There's even a campground up at the top and they don't charge a fee to use it. Probably too much trouble to go all that way to collect the fees.
By the way, it's not a motorcycle-accessible road to the campground, so don't try that unless you're really into that stuff.
So it's 20 miles up and 20 back and altogether 40 miles of some of the best riding in all of Utah. The pictures don't do it justice; you've got to see it for yourself. But don't tell the locals I told you.














Comments
Author Frommer's "Budget Travel" magazine, July/August 2009 edition, has a nice article about this same road, titled "National Parks - Road Trip" on page 90. Check it out.
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