San Diego → Vegas → UT → CO → AZ → San Diego

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Sage1

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2013
Messages
2,783
Reaction score
9,371
Location
Not here
Hey hooligans,

nanobrew and I are doing a road trip May 5–15. We’re getting down to the last week of planning:

m4xfu4lm.png


4dvjinbw.png


  1. What are we ****ing up? Where should we go to that we don’t have on here, and what do we have on here that we shouldn’t go to? Some things that might be helpful:
    • Suggestions in all three categories (nature ****, food, and drink) are welcome.
    • Brian and I loooooove sours and saisons, especially softer and lower ABV ones, such as Crooked Stave. That’s not to say we won’t drink other styles, but sours (including berliner weisses) and saisons are a much higher priority. And yes we know about the spots to pick up Casey bottles.
    • Breweries are a higher priority than bars (we’re not traveling a thousand miles to drink Green Flash-brewed Nelson).
    • We can’t deviate much from our driving route. E.g., I’d love to go up to Salt Lake City to hit up High West, but we simply can’t with our constraints. If you know of a driving route that’s more scenic than what we’re doing that adds less than a half hour to a leg though, I’d be curious to hear it.
  2. Would you like to smoosh tips with us? Please let us know the time/place you can meet up. Bonus: If we meet at Grimm Brothers you’ll get triple banged with us and blue_bleeder.
GIFs of hiking/outdoorsy fails encouraged.

Thanks!!
 
Last edited:
You would be foolish to not take the 12 to the 24 from Bryce to Green River instead of going on interstate 15 to 70. Highway 12 from Escalante to Boulder is one of the best stretches of road I have ever been on. And additionally you get to drive through Capitol Reef, which is a vastly underrated national park. I think it would not add more than 45 minutes to an hour. But like I said, this is a MUST DO.

And if you want my personal opinion, skip Arches NP. Its very cool and has some parts of it that are unlike anywhere else. But its also the most crowded NP in Utah (minus a few little pockets of Zion that are swarmed) and can be difficult to get away from the road and find some personal space. The slot canyons around Escalante (Peak-a-boo, Spooky, and Brimstone) are not far off the 12 and very cool. They tend to be a bit busy but given its a weekday you will be out there, it would be fine. Brimstone had far less people and has a very deep, dark feeling to it. Another option is drive out the Burr trail and do a day hike in the waterpocket fold area of Capitol Reef. This is my personal favorite part of any national park in Utah and is absolutely insane. But it requires a lot of miles of dirt roads (not bad ones, but still dirt) and would eat up some time. But like I said, I would drop Arches and do something cool in Escalate or Capitol Reef. Feel free to PM if you have any more questions. I have spent a lot of time out there.
 
Prost is an odd choice...too bad Bierstadt Lagerhouse won't be open yet. That's Bill Eye's (who brewed at Prost) newest brewery.

Instead of Prost, put Comrade on your list, even though it's a little further away.

Also would be happy to buy you guys a round at Crooked Stave Friday!

If you need food recommendations in Denver would be happy to give some ideas too.
 
Nature ****.
Detour.
Take exit 20 go right just off 15 just a ways north of Cedar City. Take 20 to 89, while on 89 you will pass through Circleville and can see the house that Butch Cassidy grew up in. Bring some rods because from Circleville on you will be driving right along side some great fishing. From 89 you will swing right on 62 and there are some gnarly brown trout to your right hand side. In just a few miles you will hit Otter Creek Res, go left here to continue on 62. This will take you up to Koosharem, if you are interested in seeing wildlife you can head up Monroe Mountain from there and see record book size bull elk. When you see the pizza place at the end of town turn right on Browns Lane (shortcut to 24). Turn right on 24. 24 will take you all the way back to the 70 but you will be passing through Capital Reef and Goblin Valley (great hiking and nature ****). Fish the Fremont River which you will be driving next to for much of your time on 24.

This is a ridiculous detour and would add days to your trip.
 
Prost is an odd choice...too bad Bierstadt Lagerhouse won't be open yet. That's Bill Eye's (who brewed at Prost) newest brewery.

Instead of Prost, put Comrade on your list, even though it's a little further away.

Also would be happy to buy you guys a round at Crooked Stave Friday!

If you need food recommendations in Denver would be happy to give some ideas too.

I'd get in on the meetup at Crooked Stave on Friday

My current plan is to follow from Grimm down to CS on Friday.


What are CS's feels on outside bottles? What if those bottles happen to be homebrew sours?
 
Looks like you're skipping Monument Valley. I'd at least spend an hour there. Slightly different route to the Utah border than what you have there.
 
Looks like you're skipping Monument Valley. I'd at least spend an hour there. Slightly different route to the Utah border than what you have there.


Good to know. Didn't know that was there and we thought of stopping by 4 corners just because we are in the area, otherwise our interest is fairly low for that (4 corners).
 
Booo



I might send them a message and ask. I know some places don't officially allow it, but it is legal. Or they have a small corkage fee.
Problem is they are much more "out in the open" at the Source then they were at the old tap room. I've opened some older CS bottles there and haven't had a problem but have also been told no on other bottles.
 
Problem is they are much more "out in the open" at the Source then they were at the old tap room. I've opened some older CS bottles there and haven't had a problem but have also been told no on other bottles.


would it be illegal for them? If so I won't do it. No matter what I will clear it with them first, I am not going to try to do it behind their back. Not a big deal if I cannot, just thought it would be fun.
 
would it be illegal for them? If so I won't do it. No matter what I will clear it with them first, I am not going to try to do it behind their back. Not a big deal if I cannot, just thought it would be fun.
It is illegal with the license they have. At least I've been told that by the bartenders. Most places here are that way. I asked Station 26 when another TBer was coming into town and same answer there.
 
You would be foolish to not take the 12 to the 24 from Bryce to Green River instead of going on interstate 15 to 70. Highway 12 from Escalante to Boulder is one of the best stretches of road I have ever been on. And additionally you get to drive through Capitol Reef, which is a vastly underrated national park. I think it would not add more than 45 minutes to an hour. But like I said, this is a MUST DO.

And if you want my personal opinion, skip Arches NP. Its very cool and has some parts of it that are unlike anywhere else. But its also the most crowded NP in Utah (minus a few little pockets of Zion that are swarmed) and can be difficult to get away from the road and find some personal space. The slot canyons around Escalante (Peak-a-boo, Spooky, and Brimstone) are not far off the 12 and very cool. They tend to be a bit busy but given its a weekday you will be out there, it would be fine. Brimstone had far less people and has a very deep, dark feeling to it. Another option is drive out the Burr trail and do a day hike in the waterpocket fold area of Capitol Reef. This is my personal favorite part of any national park in Utah and is absolutely insane. But it requires a lot of miles of dirt roads (not bad ones, but still dirt) and would eat up some time. But like I said, I would drop Arches and do something cool in Escalate or Capitol Reef. Feel free to PM if you have any more questions. I have spent a lot of time out there.


Thanks for the tips!


Of these areas where would we want to veer of the rode and hike? Or is that not necessary? Reason I ask is to get to our stop in Glenwood Springs, that is a 9hr drive (not including the Arches, if we do those). Which we don't mind doing if the roads are worth it. Just wondering how much time would need to be tacked on for sightseeing.
 
I would categorize amazing Utah places into the "holy **** expansive views" category and the "holy **** i am deep down in this canyon" category (both of those photos were taken from hikes very close to highway 12). Sometime hikes like Angel's landing in Zion gives you both of these categories (although that particular one with big crowds). The best part of the drive from Escalante to Boulder along the 12 is the expansive view part. It gives you a better sense of the scale of the Colorado plateau canyon country than almost anywhere else I have driven. But seeing canyons in an intimate way almost always requires hiking in my opinion. There is something much more fun about exploring a canyon on foot when you round each bend and continue to be blown away by the natural architecture of these places. If it was me, I would skip Arches and use that time to either hike the slot canyons I already talked about (I have some photos of these in my flickr) or head up the Escalante River from where it intersects the 12 just after Kiva Coffee house. If you have time to make it all the way to lower death hallow and hike up that, then you will be blown away. But you can head up as far as you feel like you have time for. I would just do a little poking around on maps and go out with a sense of adventure. If you see something cool, take a walk. Most of the best places I have been in Utah had no trail or evidence of other people having been there. It just looked like a rad place to explore and didn't disappoint.
 
I've been wanting to do The Maze. Supposed to be ****ing insane. Like a week long trip into it.

I think its really cool how Canyonlands is broken up into three seperate districts that you cannot really easily cross between because of the rivers. The Maze is the one I have not been to yet and would also really like to go to. Doing a longer trip there is easily on my top 5 things to do next in Utah.
 
swivelhips I think we’re going to take your advice and do the 12 → 24 and skip Arches. Off the top of your head, any particular slot canyons along that route that we could do a good ≤2 mile hike? We have to run a bit of a tight ship that day.
 
I just looked at the peak-a-boo/spooky/brimstone slots on a map and while the hike is only 2 miles, the drive is further down Hole in the Rock road (a road that branches off to the south of highway 12 just past the town of Escalante) than I remembered. 26 miles each way. So it probably adds more driving time than you want. But even if you just do the drive, it will be worth it. I'll will poke around on the internet tonight and see if there are any hikes I have heard about that will fit what you are looking for. I also have a few specific spots that are just off the road that would be worth stopping at and having a beer and snack just for the view alone that I will find my notes on tonight.
 
Spencer flat road is a really nice place to pull off for lunch if the timing is right. Its off the 12 between escalante and boulder. There is a great spot just a bit down the road at 37°44'13.37"N 111°26'28.92"W. The road is a bit sandy so if you have a low clearance 2wd car you might want to walk the very short couple hundred feet out to the edge of the view spot from the main spencer flat road. This spot is close to where I took the "holy **** expansive view" photo I linked earlier.

I still stand by hiking up the Escalante river from where the 12 crosses it before Boulder. You can go as far as you want and it will be cool. There will also be running water which is always nice on these hikes cause its probably starting to get hot out there now. Wear footwear you don't mind getting wet and muddy for this hike. You might also run the risk of wanting to spend all day continuing up it and not be able to turn around.

Another option is one of the many great day hikes off of the 24 where it crosses through Capitol Reef further to the north. These are probably some of your better bets in terms of the amount of time you have. There is a nice list of possible hikes here. I would recommend deciding if you want to hike to a place with a view or if you want to try and hike into a canyon. I thought this page had some nice info also, especially at the bottom where it lists other options. Most of the time I have spent in Capitol Reef has been off on the south end of the park, which would add a lot of time for you to get to.

Goblin Valley is also a cool place to stop at and not far off the highway.
 
Back
Top