- Distance: 7.5 Miles (12.07 km)
- Rating: 4-C, Fairly technical because of lots of elevation changes. The high elevation of the road is not that kind to asphalt, but its if fair condition Ratings Explained »
- Travel: Either direction for best results
- Start: Junction with UT-14
- End: Junction with UT-143
- Fuel: None
- Along the Way: Its a short road, so if you are not stopping to see the views, you are really missing out.
- Highlights: Cedar Brakes is a National Monument and requires payment to enjoy the views, but has been described as a "more masculine Bryce Canyon".
- Advisories: It is a National Monument and there is a Law Enforcement Officer posted on site. The high elevation can mean severe weather at any time.
Summary
The main reason to take this road is for Cedar Break National Monument, a massive amphitheater of towering spires of red rock known as Hoodoos. The rocks of the eroded canyon contain iron and manganese in various combinations, providing brilliant colors that led Indians to call it the Circle of Painted Cliffs. Iron oxides provide the reds, oranges, and yellows, while manganese oxides provide shades of purple.
As soon as you turn off the gently sweeping UT-143, Cedar Breaks road becomes wonderfully technical with ample elevation changes combined with lots of corners, so most every corner is ascending or descending adding to the technical character of the road. The elevation also puts you right at the edge of the timber line, so there are nice open meadows of grass to contrast the mosaic of bristlecone pines, the longest living known species of any kind. Some bristlecone have been known to live over 1600 years.
There are several turn-outs that offer views overlooking Cedar Breaks, the main-pullout has several buildings, but one pullout north offers almost as good of views and rarely has anybody checking for payment receipts, particularly if you are like us and only plan on staying for a few moments before getting back to riding.
As soon as you leave the confines of the National Monument the road opens up and gently descends into a massive meadow where it reconnects with UT-14.
Do you have a better photograph of this Road?
If you do, email us your photograph and if we use it, you could win the Ultimate Collectors Edition of Faster, Faster and Faster and The Doctor, the Tornado and The Kentucky Kid a $40 value that has the Directors Cut of all three movies, remastered in 5.1 digital surround sound! More than seven hours of content!
Email photos to contest at canyonchasers.net with the name of the road in the subject line. (Or just click on that link and we'll fill in the subject line for you.)
Rate This Road
Have you ridden this road? How would you rate it? With one star meaning you thought this was a super-lame road with very little value, to five stars meaning that you felt like this was the mother of all roads - a road by which other roads should be judged.
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Ratings Explained
The CanyonChasers road rating is two parts. The first part, numbers 1 through 5, describe how technical the road is, with number 1 being a gently sweeping road and number five being very technical with challenging corners. The second part of the rating is a letter, A, B, C, D and F. The letter describes the quality of the road surface with A being perfect, pristine smooth and F being degraded, bumpy and crumbly. Rolling joints, tar-stips or "gummy worms" will drop the road one letter grade.
This road information is for planning and recreational purposes only. You may find that construction projects, traffic, or other events may cause road conditions to differ from the CanyonChasers ratings. Ratings may not be applicable to all riders, all bikes and all skill levels.