Places obstakel Wants to Go

Artist Jack Pierson made this surreal sculpture in honor of Wonder Valley, a countercultural community on edge of civilization.

This former Mormon settlement is reemerging from the receding waters of Lake Mead.

Preserving the remains of Native American cultures which otherwise would have been submerged behind Hoover Dam.

A well-preserved example from a 1920s network of airmail navigation arrows sits near Interstate 15 in southern Nevada.

Settled by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1859, this abandoned frontier town has appeared in several films.

The hike through a narrow river flanked by the 2,000-foot-tall walls of Zion Canyon is one of the best in the world.

Nature has shaped this drainage tunnel into the digestive tract of a mighty beast.

Walk through the sets of old western films at this small museum in Utah.

This ancient cave is home to a museum, bar, and is filled with fluorescent minerals.

Local lore holds that Butch Cassidy took an escape route through Red Canyon's sandstone hoodoos after an attempted murder.

If it wasn’t for an innovative use of quilts during a crisis, the city of Panguitch might not exist today.

Once a menacing challenge for trailblazers, this trail is now the most scenic drive in Utah.

A striking, menacing sandstone peak towering above a landscape that's equal parts Mordor and the Moon.

A Mars simulation in the southern Utah desert.

This outsider art paradise is filled with dinosaur sculptures crafted from recycled machinery.

A ghost town that held steady longer than most, but finally gave up the ghost.

Thousands of years ago, Indigenous people painted images onto these canyon walls that are still on display today, provocative, mysterious, and enduring reminders of the people who lived here long ago.

This tea house was a hand-built gift from Boulder's sister city in Tajikstan.

A research lab and hands-on museum where visitors can experiment with retro technology.

A museum dedicated to the mysterious cryptid.

The warmth and creative kitsch of a quilt engulf every patron who visits.

This massive home was constructed by one of the greatest conservationists in Colorado history.

A prehistoric rock shelter that's literally in someone's backyard.

Rather than a run-of-the-mill franchise hotel, this lodging has been decked out in dinosaur decor.