Upon arriving in Hanksville, Utah, one of the first things that will immediately strike you is how far away it is. For starters, regardless of where you arrive, it will undoubtedly have taken you hours to get there. The closest international airport is in Salt Lake City, about 220 miles to the north, and even then, many people end up driving from Las Vegas, another 370 miles to the southwest. Along Main Street, a very large and very obvious sign will inform you that, among its many fames, Hanksville is perhaps best known as the hideout of notorious outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Between bank robberies and train robberies, Cassidy and his Wild Bunch took refuge in the area’s remote canyons, far from the reach of the law. That is to say, people don’t usually come across Hanksville by chance. And yet, for a city of just over 200 residents, it attracts a respectable number of visitors each year and has reimagined its economy around recreational tourism. Article continues below this advertisement. And so, while most people pass through Hanksville on their way to places like Capitol Reef National Park, Goblin Valley State Park, or Lake Powell, I often encourage them to reserve a day or two in the area. Nearby Goblin Valley State Park in Utah is known for its thousands of Hoodoos, known locally as goblins. Amanda Heidt/SFGATE Hollow Mountain in Hanksville, Utah, was blown into the cliff using 100 boxes. of dynamite.Amanda Heidt/SFGATEHanksville itself is quirky, making it a great base camp for exploration. One of the town’s two gas stations, Hollow Mountain, was cut right into the cliff using 100 boxes of dynamite, meaning you too can experience what it’s like to buy gummy worms from a man in a cave. Article continues below this ad The last time I visited in May, just before temperatures began to rise, a bus disembarked a group of tourists traveling between Utah’s five mighty national parks: Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef and Zion. Beth Parks (no relation), a visitor from Chicago, took one look at the place and declared it “kitsch, through and through.” That didn’t stop him from flipping through a series of books on crystal healing inside. At the end of the street, the sound of chimes will indicate that you are approaching Carl’s Critter Garden, the type of roadside attraction that would undoubtedly cause a traffic incident if it were in a city with traffic. Between 1987 and 1992, local artists Carl Hunt and Paul Turner built hundreds of sculptures from discarded pieces of machinery. Many take the form of dinosaurs (their bodies represented in nuts, bolts and scrap metal) in homage to the paleontological importance of the area. The nearby Hanksville-Burpee Dinosaur Quarry remains one of the largest active dinosaur quarries in the country. The bentonite hills in Utah were formed during the Jurassic period. Today’s visitors seek them out for the hues of the rainbow. Amanda Heidt/SFGATE The garden is still manicured outside the now abandoned Desert Inn Motel. I knocked on the door of one of the rooms that seemed to still house the property’s tenant, but I don’t know what I was expecting given the “I’ll be back sometime” sign taped to the door. Article continues below this advertisement. In addition to the sculptures, the site also offers visitors the opportunity to learn about Shanti Christo, a Christian-Buddhist religion that emphasizes love, forgiveness, and inner peace (although try finding inner peace with a T. rex hovering over you). Hunt’s personal thoughts on kindness, judgment and ego can be found on plaques scattered throughout the garden, and all I will say is that I would have loved to have bought him a beer. However, over time you will want to get out and see the landscapes that draw people to this corner of the world. And here I admit that I am a little lost. Not because there is nothing to recommend, but because there is so much to do that it is difficult to narrow down the list. The Mars Desert Research Station, near Hanksville, Utah, has six buildings, including a greenhouse, a science dome, and a 14-inch telescope. Amanda Heidt/SFGATE To go outside, scientists simulating life on Mars must put on simulated spacesuits. Amanda Heidt/SFGATE Drive a few miles west out of town, turn right onto Cow Dung Road, and you’ll soon find yourself on another planet. Scientists realized that Utah not only looks like Mars, but is like Mars. Today, the land outside Hanksville is one of the few so-called Mars analogues on Earth where researchers can come to investigate extraterrestrial questions. Article continues below this advertisement. The Mars Desert Research Station, founded in 2001, has for many years hosted astronauts training for missions to the red planet. When they visit, they act as if they were on Mars, conducting weeks-long missions during which they must don simulated spacesuits to exit the complex’s six buildings, which include a greenhouse, a science dome and a 14-inch telescope. In spring or summer, the station also hosts one of the world’s largest university robotics competitions, the University Rover Challenge, where teams of students build and test their rovers against Earth’s Martian backdrop. Nearby, you’ll find another place Hanksville is increasingly known for: Bentonite Hills. These rounded, rolling protrusions look like jawbreakers embedded in the earth, with varying layers of gray, red, green and yellow sediments deposited in the late Jurassic period, when Utah was a much swampier place. Bentonite itself is a remnant of ancient volcanoes, formed as ash decayed over millennia. The hills have become something of a pilgrimage for influencers, and the photos you see online are often oversaturated compared to real life. But if you visit at dawn or dusk, the diffuse light really brings out the greens, blues and purples, and there’s really nothing like it. Further along the road, you’ll leave the red desert behind and enter another formation called the Mancos Shale, a Cretaceous layer defined by its blackened mud rock. Think less about Mars and more about Mordor, with rocky spiers and towering mountains. Article continues below this advertisement. The land around Hanksville, Utah, looks like both Mars and the Moon. Amanda Heidt/SFGATESwing Arm City is a popular destination for off-road vehicle enthusiasts, who slide their dirt bikes through bowls of dirt while a surfer carves a wave. It is a paradise for spectators, both for the acrobatics performed by the riders and for the surreality of the environment. Not far away, visitors can walk to a solitary spire rising 100 feet above the valley floor. It goes by many names, including Long Dong Silver Spire and Blue Valley Spire, neither of which capture its downright alien aura. If I have time to spend the night, I often look back toward Factory Butte, a towering mesa that dominates the skyline to the north. If you drive until you’re parallel to it and turn right, you’ll eventually end up at Moonscape Overlook, a dispersed camping area with scenic views for hundreds of miles. I’m convinced that somewhere along that bumpy road, you cross a threshold that transports you to another place, if not another planet entirely. Looking out over the wastelands, it seems like we should see some evidence of humanity (if not Hanksville, then certainly a highway or the lights of Moab in the distance), and yet it’s as if the slate of the world has been wiped clean. All that remains is texture, from the spider web of drainage in the foreground to the dunes, mesas, and distant La Sal Mountains. At night, the stars seem endless and the long tail of the Milky Way stretches into the distance. Article continues below this advertisement. There are a lot of places that are overbooked when you see them online, but Moonscape is one of the few places I can think of that actually lives up to the hype. Word has spread, so it is no longer a place to seek isolation, but it is still possible to sometimes achieve some solitude. Moonscape Overlook offers panoramic views of the Utah badlands. Amanda Heidt/SFGATEstan’s Burger Shak in Hanksville, Utah, has a cult following for its shakes. Amanda Heidt/SFGATE Inevitably, most of my trips to Hanksville end at Stan’s Burger Shak, a burger joint attached to the other, more normal gas station. Instead of a burger, you can get a respectably tasty Hanksburger, but the real draw is their shakes. The list of flavors seems endless, and depending on the time of year, you can find seasonal flavors like a peach smoothie made with fruit from local orchards or, come fall, pumpkin pie smoothie, one of my favorites. Article continues below this advertisement. Screw inflation at Stan’s, where the milkshakes are so firm that they rise several inches above the rim of the glass, like a tube of delicious lipstick. I never managed to finish one in one sitting, but that doesn’t stop me from trying. Access our new app with ad-free reading, curated maps, and more. GET IT NOW My time at Stan’s usually turns into a reflection on my next visit. I try to get to Hanksville once or twice a year and almost always leave with the seed for another trip already planted. I once heard from a local that there is a herd of Yellowstone bison living in the Henry Mountains, a chain of nearby peaks (you guessed it) so remote that they were the last mountain range in the country to be officially mapped, remaining a blank space until 1872. Rising in the middle distance, they create a sometimes harsh contrast, clinging to the snow long after the desert below begins to shimmer with heat. Article continues below this advertisement. This is what I mean when I say that no trip to Hanksville is truly complete. Life is what happens between visits. We love national parks as much as you do, which is why we have a newsletter that covers them from top to bottom. Register here.
