Our somewhat circuitous route through eastern and central Utah was gorgeous.

But how could we not stop? With the small, seasonal restaurant closing the day after we arrived in Monroe, this would be our only opportunity. When we inspected the map, we saw that it would add a good couple hours to our drive. An avid outdoor lover who’s extremely well-versed in the western part of the country, we were certainly keen to heed her advice. During our three-month summer in Montana, our AirBnb host’s daughter told us if we ended up in southern Utah, we had to check out a restaurant called Hell’s Backbone Grill. We decided to make a special stop in Boulder on our way from Durango to Monroe. The scenic thoroughfare earned the distinction of All-American road status in 2002, a designation claimed by just 31 (one-third) of America’s scenic byways. Boulder has long been considered one of the most isolated towns in the country, though its position on Utah’s Scenic Byway 12 has helped it see an uptick in visitors in recent years. Home to just two hundred residents, Boulder is nestled between the rugged terrain of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Capitol Reef National Park, and Dixie National Forest. Similar to those well-known Utah locales, the tiny town of Boulder is just over two hours from Monroe. Salt Lake City, Moab, Zion – all were about a 2.5-hour drive. Boston, the beaches, Providence, Hartford, Lake Winnipesaukee… I’m pretty sure no New Englander gauges distance in miles, rather we use ‘a couple hours’ as our precisely calibrated measuring stick. It kind of reminded me of growing up in rural New Hampshire where everything is two hours away. Located in south-central Utah, Monroe is one of those tiny, pastoral towns that’s near absolutely nothing yet not too far from anything. Both roads boast ridiculously beautiful western scenery, but only one has a bridge that can make an acrophobic’s heart skip a beat.As we headed into the last week of October, we made our way from Durango, Colorado to Monroe, Utah for what would be our final stop for the year. It is still the smooth, all-weather route between Boulder and Escalante. It took a few more years to complete the paved road, which was finished by 1940. It only took the CCC a couple of years to complete Hell’s Backbone Road, which is still gravel today. Given the sheer drop along some stretches, it was the CCC crews who dubbed it the Poison Road – one false step, and down you go. They got it, starting with a gravel road along the ridge called Hells’ Backbone. When the CCC was formed under the WPA, the two towns asked for funding to bring them into the 20th century. Before 1933 there were no automobile routes to Boulder or between the two towns, there were only wagon routes and mule trails. Both roads were built in the early 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps (the CCC), the construction and public works arm of the Works Projects Administration (the WPA). The other, Hell’s Backbone, is most certainly not. One, a lovely route over Scenic Byway 12, is paved.

There are two roads between the towns of Boulder and Escalante, Utah. The road’s name is most evocative of all: Hell’s Backbone. The men who built it called it The Poison Road its craggy terrain is known as desert slickrock it is surrounded by the Box-Death Hollow wilderness area and it winds around a town called Salt Gulch. Some evocative names swirl around a scenic road in southern Utah.

Hells backbone grill