Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Utah's Hwy 95 - Bicentennial Scenic Byway


Hands down this is my favorite road in Utah. Its not very twisty, as a matter of a fact, I don’t think there are more than 5-6 curves posted under 40MPH, the rest of the road has lots of high-speed sweepers and there are also a few long straight sections. The appeal for me is the scenery - it’s out of this world. Also, there is very little traffic on this road.


The VFR and ST3 pose for pictures on highway 95 in Utah

As you leave Blanding you encounter a sign which informs you the next available gas station is 122 miles away, which is in Hanksville. Highway 95 runs through a very remote area and in the 122 miles between Blanding and Hanksville only 3 major roads intersect it. This is not a good road to run out of gas or have your bike break down, today the temperature was in the upper 90’s and every time we pulled over for pictures we were sweating pretty bad and there is no shade to hide from the hot sun. Actually the funny thing is, all the other times I’ve ridden this road it was raining and cold. This was my first time through here when it was dry and hot.


So much great scenery here, it's hard to take a bad picture





We stopped to check out Natural Bridges National Monument just off highway 95 (see previous post)

This was my third time riding highway 95. I’ve been on it once in 2004 and once in 2006. My favorite direction to ride this road is from west to east. This was my second time riding it from east to west. The plan was to take highway 95 back east after visiting Utah. I was really excited to be able to ride this road in both directions on this trip, especially since I made it all the way to Monticello, UT last summer on my bike but ran out of time to ride highway 95. There are lots of things to do and see in this area if you’re in to the outdoors since highway 95 runs through the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.


Dalton took this one of me trying to find a suitable spot to pull over


I love this spot where the road cuts through the red rock


Same spot as in the above picture but looking west




Dalton and his VFR


That's the same scenery from the above picture, Dalton took these two pictures




Road shots from the camera that is mounted on my bike


95 is one beautiful but lonely road, and that's the way I like it


More red rocks for my ST3 to pose with


Taking a water break



Highway 95 - 122 miles of winding pavement and amazing rock formations


This is the bridge that crosses the Colorado River



2 comments:

Mike said...

I love that grade on 95! I hate the free roaming cows through there though, almost had a calf shoot out in front of my bike last year.
Beautiful! My most favorite spot in the world-Southern Utah.
Thanks

Anonymous said...

Cool road review....thanks!!! I'm planning on doing it this May after WSBK.