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CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Scenic Byway 12 · short arc

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
123 km
Riding-time estimate
2 h 03
Journey
One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis

Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: planning record, not independently verified geometry.

Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.

Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.

Open this ride in CurveScout

Why this ride

123 km from Panguitch to the finish, about 2 h 03 of riding. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,500 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

  1. 1. Panguitch

    Panguitch is a small, tidy Utah town of about fifteen hundred people on the high plateau, and it is the doorway to one of the great motorcycle roads in the American West. Scenic Byway 12 starts nearby, climbs through Red Canyon with its orange spires and tunnels, and then runs on through Bryce Canyon country, Grand Staircase-Escalante and over Boulder Mountain to Capitol Reef. The name Panguitch comes from a Paiute word usually translated as big fish, and the nearby lake does indeed have good trout.

    Read the complete Panguitch write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Panguitch is where the day begins. Next is Bryce Canyon City.

  2. 2. Bryce Canyon City

    Bryce Canyon City is a small cluster of motels, restaurants and shops at the entrance to Bryce Canyon National Park, in the high desert of southern Utah, at an altitude well over two thousand metres. Panguitch, the nearest real town, lies about thirty kilometres to the west. Nothing here is old, as the village grew with the tourists, but the setting is the reason for everything.

    Read the complete Bryce Canyon City write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Bryce Canyon City comes up about 47 km into the recorded legs. Next is Escalante.

  3. 3. Escalante

    Escalante is a small town on the edge of nowhere, and it is proud of it. Mormon pioneers settled here in 1875, in a valley at about 1,770 metres, and named it for Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, the Franciscan friar who passed through the region with Spanish explorers in 1776 on a failed attempt to find a route to California. Today it has a few hundred inhabitants, a handful of motels and cafes, and the air of a place that exists mainly to serve those exploring the vast and strange landscape around it.

    Read the complete Escalante write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    The route ends here after 123 km.

Leg by leg

Panguitch to Bryce Canyon City

Panguitch → Bryce Canyon City is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Bryce Canyon City to Escalante

Bryce Canyon City → Escalante is 76 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.

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