Driving I-70 Through Utah’s San Rafael Swell: One of America’s Most Remote Highway Stretches
Driving I-70 Through Utah’s San Rafael Swell: One of America’s Most Remote Highway Stretches
By: a.d. elliott | Take the Back Roads - Art and Other Odd Adventures
Dear Henry,
There is an amazing drive in Southeastern Utah that everyone must take, and, oddly enough, it is an interstate. Let me tell you all about the San Rafael Swell.
Interstate 70 is an east-west corridor that runs from Baltimore, Maryland, to its terminus at I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah. It connects major cities like Baltimore, Columbus, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Denver. It is a great road for crossing the country.
The road starts to enter the surreal around Grand Junction, Colorado, and the last 275 miles of the route offer a remarkable experience of ghost towns, mesas, and red earth. However, it is the 110-mile segment between Green River and Salina, Utah, that is, in my opinion, the most striking part of the entire drive.
As you leave Green River, you enter the San Rafael Swell, a massive geologic uplift formed millions of years ago. As it eroded, it left behind a landscape of blind canyons carved through sandstone, limestone, and shale. It is a barren, unforgiving place, with very little water.
The first people to make their home here were the Fremont, who left petroglyph panels throughout the Swell, most notably at Buckhorn Wash. The Utes and Paiutes followed later, moving through the region as hunter-gatherers, leaving fewer permanent traces but carrying a deep knowledge of the land.
Its outlaw history comes from Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and the Wild Bunch, who knew how to navigate the Swell and used the landscape as a hiding place between robberies.
There is plenty to see from I-70, with overlooks scattered throughout the region. There are also a few side roads that allow you to explore further, most notably Goblin Valley State Park, Little Wild Horse Canyon, Buckhorn Wash, and the Wedge Overlook. It is an incredible place for desert photography and, given its proximity to Canyonlands and Arches National Parks, a worthwhile addition to a larger trip.
However, and I cannot stress this enough, there are no services. None. The land is barren, hostile, and water is scarce. Temperatures can fluctuate from above 100 degrees to below zero. If you drive this portion of I-70, make sure you fill up in either Green River or Salina, or be prepared for a long and miserable walk of shame. If you choose to leave the interstate and explore the backroads, bring extra water, food, gasoline, maps, and a GPS. Tell someone where you are going and be prepared to be completely alone. It is not for the faint of heart, and it is not a place that welcomes carelessness.
And that is part of its appeal.
There are not many stretches of road left where distance still matters, where preparation still matters, where the land has not been softened to accommodate us.
For a little while, on Interstate 70, the terms are set by something older than the road itself. And we are only passing through.
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About the Author
a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller traveling through life
She shares her journeys at Take the Back Roads, explores new reads at Rite of Fancy, and highlights U.S. military biographies at Everyday Patriot.
You can also browse her online photography gallery at shop.takethebackroads.com.
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