Every Utahn has one: the place you take out-of-state visitors to prove this state is weirder and better than they thought — and then immediately regret telling anyone. These are ours. Don’t say we didn’t warn the gatekeepers.
The Spiral Jetty
A 1,500-foot coil of black rock curling into the pink north arm of the Great Salt Lake, built in 1970 and still the strangest art pilgrimage in America. When the lake is low and the algae blooms, the water turns the color of raspberry soda. Rozel Point is out there — that’s why it works.
Pando
Near Fish Lake stands a forest that is secretly one tree — 80,000 years old, thousands of cloned aspen trunks, one root system, possibly the largest living organism on Earth. Every fall it turns gold all at once, because it is, genetically, one individual putting on a show.
Fifth Water Hot Springs
Up Diamond Fork Canyon, an easy hike ends at turquoise pools stacked down a hillside next to a waterfall. Go on a weekday morning, pack out everything, and pretend you found it yourself. Everybody else there is doing the same.
Coral Pink Sand Dunes
A state park of salmon-colored sand near Kanab that looks like the Sahara got lost. Sunrise and sunset are the hours — the dunes change color all day, and the sand squeaks under your boots.
Goblin Valley
A valley full of stone gnomes at the edge of the San Rafael Swell. No trails to speak of inside the main valley — you just wander among the hoodoos like it’s a sculpture garden built by giants. It’s also an International Dark Sky Park, so stay late.
The Bonneville Salt Flats at sunrise
Everyone photographs the flats at noon. Go at dawn, when the salt is a mirror of white silence in every direction and the mountains float. It is the most peaceful place in Utah and it is not close.
That’s six. We left yours off on purpose, obviously.
Your turn — what Utah hidden gem did we miss, and are you actually willing to share it?
Photo: John Fowler, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.