The Mysterious Petroglyphs and Twisted Towers Beyond Utah’s National Parks

Many first-time visitors to Utah assume its natural wonders are confined to the national parks. But the lucky truth is that these parks cover only a small fraction of the state’s breathtaking landscapes. With over 70% of Utah designated as public land, there’s an abundance of spectacular terrain waiting to be explored beyond the park borders.

Among these, there’s no trove more glorious than that of southeast Utah. Sculpted by wind and water, the region’s red-rock deserts are a maze of tunnels, slides, narrow side canyons, and candy cane-striped cliffs. It’s an adventurer’s playground on a 3,000-square-mile scale—more than any park could possibly contain. Case in point: east of Arches National Park lie the Fisher Towers, an untamed forest of sandstone spires twisted into impossible shapes, some up to 600 feet tall. To the north and south of Arches, you’ll find some of the country’s oldest rock art: Sego Canyon and Newspaper Rock, each a stone tapestry recording thousands of years of human history.

Closer to town, the adventures get even more interactive. Waltz down the sandstone catwalks of the Gemini Bridges, shimmy through the cavernous maw of Tusher Tunnel, or hike through Dead Horse State Park for a mirage-like glimpse of the Potash Evaporation Ponds, which shimmer electric-blue against the desert sand. Each destination offers its own wild, less crowded adventure.