Bryce to Cortez, Co area

[bukhrn]

What's the best, (easiest) route from Bryce to Canyons of the Ancients, (Cortez area).

[paulj]

I don't know about "best" but some years ago I drove Cortez to Bryce by a scenic route. This was in cute-ute, not a big RV, but it should be doable by any vehicle.

From Cortez I took at county road west (turn off near the airport), which went right past at least one Monument trailhead. That took us to 162, Aneth, UT. We could have detoured to Hovenweep (but saw that some years before).

Then to Mexican Hat and up Moki Dugway. 191 and 95 would be a more RV friendly route. Then 276 to Halls Crossing. We missed the last ferry, so camped on the south side and crossed in the morning.

I'd been planning on taking a BLM route across to Boulder, but recent storms had closed a river crossing, so we looped north to Hanksville and Capitol Reef. US95 with a high bridge across the Colorado would have been shorter.

Then UT12 to Escalante (camp) and on to Bryce. 12 is curvy but doable by RV. It gets lots of RV discussion.

Overall it was about 40 miles longer than the alternatives that Google Maps suggests. But it gave a nice overview of southern Utah.

[Busskipper]

bukhrn wrote:
What's the best, (easiest) route from Bryce to Canyons of the Ancients, (Cortez area).

"BEST"

MAP - My Best

You are in Utah some Beautiful Drives that few Take, Gets you close to Lake Powell and the Wild and Beautiful areas few see.

JMHO,

[agesilaus]

The easy way would be to drop back south to Kanab then 89 east to 160 east to Cortez. Not direct but there aren't a lot of roads in that corner of the country,.
You could head up to Moab and then south to Cortez from there.

[BarryG20]

Easiest is probably backtrack on 12 to 89 then south to Kanab on across southern Utah northern Arizona to 160 on into Cortez. Probably the least scenic route but probably the fastest. Next easiest would be out of Bryce head north up 62 to koosharem then hit 24 to loa and then take 72 up to 70 east to 191 at crescent junction south to Moab and down to Monticello then 491down into Cortez pretty scenic route even the I 70 portion going across the San Rafael swell is very scenic. My favorite, though it is the longest by an additional 45 minutes to hour is to take 12 out of Bryce through escalante up and over boulder mountain, catching 24 in Torrey heading east on 24 to Hanksville then 95 to the south to 191 then in blanding you can take the back roads into canyon of the ancients or into Cortez or head north a bit more on 191 to Monticello and hit 491 down into Cortez. It would be my personal favorite route but it is the slowest