Mount Carmel Junction is hardly a settlement at all, just a crossroads on US 89 where the road from Zion comes out onto the high plateau, with a motel, a diner and a petrol pump or two. But after the narrow gorges and tunnels you have come through, its openness is a relief. The land is a wide, pale, sage-covered plateau, with low pink cliffs in the distance, and a big sky overhead.
The rock around here is Navajo Sandstone, the same formation that makes the great walls of Zion, but here it lies in broad, bare domes and ridges, with long arcs of cross-bedding that show where wind once piled up ancient sand dunes some hundred and ninety million years ago. The lines on the rock are the faces of those dunes, frozen in stone. Checkerboard Mesa, a short distance back toward the park, is a good example, with its pattern of grooves and cracks looking like a chessboard, and it is one of the most photographed features along the road.
For riders, the junction is a decision point. Turn north and US 89 runs toward Bryce Canyon, with its forest of orange spires, about an hour away. Turn south and you reach Kanab, a small town with a long film history, and the road to Lake Powell and the Arizona strip. To the south-west lie the Coral Pink Sand Dunes, a state park where wind has piled sand the colour of salmon. The riding on the plateau is relaxed, with long straights, gentle hills and little traffic.
Services at the junction itself are limited, so check your tank. Kanab, about twenty-four kilometres south, has more fuel, restaurants and motels, and Fredonia, just over the Arizona line, is also an option. Summer days are hot, but the plateau is high, at around five thousand feet, so nights are cool. Afternoon storms can come up quickly, and the colours after rain are intense. Bring water and sunscreen, and expect wind. Spring and autumn are the most comfortable times.