Drive the Abajo Loop backway to Blanding
Forest Road 105 west · Free · Late spring to autumn
The Abajo Loop State Scenic Backway is the drive that shows you the whole range. It leaves Monticello westward on Forest Road 105, climbs into the Manti-La Sal National Forest, meets Forest Road 079 and turns south through North Canyon in the shadow of Horsehead Peak, then descends to Blanding. About 37 miles end to end, mostly dirt, from high desert to the edge of eleven thousand foot country and back down.
The Forest Service calls it suitable for passenger vehicles from late spring through autumn and specifically advises against large recreational vehicles and trailers. North Creek pass closes for winter and the opening rides on snowmelt rather than a date. Both ends of the loop are in a town, which is unusual for a backway of this length and makes it a genuinely practical half day.
Autumn is the reason to plan around it
Southeastern Utah is not somewhere people associate with fall colour, which is exactly why the Abajos surprise visitors. The range carries substantial aspen, the backway runs through it, and the yellow against red rock a thousand feet below is a combination that only exists where a high forest sits directly on top of canyon country. The window is short, it moves with the year, and the ranger district knows where it currently is.
It ends in the wrong town, and that is fine
The loop finishes in Blanding rather than Monticello, which means the return leg is 22 miles north on US-191. Budget the extra half hour rather than being surprised by it. The upside is that the day can be built either way round, and that a Blanding finish puts you within reach of the country on that side of the county, which is that town's ground rather than this one's.
The details
Getting there
Head for the mountain on the signed backway and stay with the numbered forest roads. The route puts you down in Blanding rather than back where you started.
Before you go
- Not recommended for large recreational vehicles or trailers, per the Forest Service.
- Carry a spare and know how to fit it. This is dirt, a long way from a tyre shop.
- No fuel, water or shop on the route. Both ends of it are in a town.
- Ring the ranger district on 435-587-2041 for current conditions before you go.
- Afternoon storms turn the surface greasy fast in late summer.
Get to the top of Abajo Peak
Abajo Peak, 11,360 feet · Free · Summer and early autumn
Abajo Peak is the high point of the range at 11,360 feet, and it is one of the few eleven thousand foot summits in Utah you can reach without walking, because a road runs to the top of it. The Forest Service is direct about the terms: that road is open seasonally and is for high clearance vehicles, and there are no constructed trails to any of the peaks in this range.
That second sentence is the one that catches walkers out. Every other summit here, including North Peak and Horsehead Peak, is reached by picking your own line cross country. There is no signed trail, no cairned route and no maintained path. It is entirely doable for people who navigate, and it is not a marked hike in the sense most visitors mean.
What you can see from up there
On a clear day the summit gives you the whole geography this companion is about at once: the Needles and the canyon country west, the La Sal Mountains north beyond Moab, Comb Ridge and the Cedar Mesa country south, and the Great Sage Plain running east into Colorado. It is the single best place to understand why Monticello sits where it does, because from up there the crossroads is obvious.
High clearance means high clearance
The Forest Service's own wording is that the road is open seasonally to high clearance vehicles, and that is not a formality on a mountain road that climbs to nearly eleven and a half thousand feet. Rock, ruts and washouts are ordinary here. If the vehicle is an ordinary car, the honest plan is to drive the backway instead and look up at the peak from it. Ask at the ranger district what the road is doing this season.
The details
Getting there
West from Monticello into the forest and up the Abajo road system. The summit road is signed and leaves the higher forest roads; the ranger district can tell you its current state.
Before you go
- High clearance vehicle required for the summit road. This is the Forest Service's own wording.
- There are no constructed trails to any peak in this range. Off road walking is cross country.
- Weather at 11,360 feet is nothing like weather in town. Carry layers in any season.
- Afternoon thunderstorms build over the range through late summer. Be down early.
- Confirm the road is open before driving up. It is seasonal and conditions change.
Walk the Skyline Trail
Forest Road 095 to Forest Road 354 · 5.3 miles one way · Strenuous
The Skyline Trail, number 015 on the Forest Service map, is 5.3 miles from Forest Road 095, called The Causeway, to Forest Road 354 on Jackson Ridge. Walked west to east it climbs steadily and gains about 2,460 feet, and the last mile drops roughly 500 feet on the way down to the far road. It is the biggest single climb on a marked trail in this range.
What it buys is the view the name promises: the surrounding canyons and peaks laid out from a ridge line, in a range that most visitors to southeastern Utah drive straight past. This is not a busy trail. On a weekday outside hunting season it is entirely possible to walk the whole thing without meeting anybody.
It is a one way trail, so plan the logistics first
Five point three miles is the one way figure, between two different forest roads. That makes it either a shuttle with two vehicles, a ten and a half mile day out and back, or a walk arranged with somebody willing to collect you. None of those is difficult; all of them need deciding in town rather than at the trailhead, because there is no coverage up there to arrange anything from.
The forest trail system connects, and the numbers matter
Skyline links into the wider Abajo trail network, and the Forest Service identifies everything here by number rather than by name alone. Robertson Pasture is 020, Aspen Flat is 018, Red Ledges is 019 with its access trail at 160, Spring Creek is 159 and Shay Ridge is 162. Loops can be built between them using Forest Roads 079 and 354. Get the district's own map before you improvise anything.
The details
Getting there
Both ends are on forest roads west of Monticello. Getting to either one is a drive on dirt, and the ranger district office at 432 East Center Street has the current road picture.
Before you go
- This is a one way trail between two roads. Decide the shuttle before you leave town.
- About 2,460 feet of climb walked west to east. It is a genuine day.
- No water on the ridge and no mobile coverage anywhere on this range.
- This is limited entry elk country. In autumn, know when the seasons are running.
- Carry the Forest Service map. Trails here are signed by number, not by name.
Fish the mountain lakes at Monticello and Foy
Along the Harts Draw corridor · Licence required · Late spring to autumn
Two small waters sit up the mountain road from Monticello: Monticello Lake and Foy Lake, the latter also shown on Forest Service documents as Spring Lake. Both are stocked trout waters, both carry picnic ground rather than facilities, and both are minutes from a road that started in a town of eighteen hundred people. Tiger trout are among the species stocked up here alongside rainbows.
Being honest about scale is the point. These are small mountain lakes, not destination fisheries, and anyone arriving expecting a reservoir will be disappointed. What they are is a genuine alpine picnic and a rod in the water twenty minutes from a Main Street, which is a good deal rarer than a big lake. Loyds Lake, closer to town at two miles out, is covered on the ranked list.
Foy Lake is also the north end of a trail
The Robertson Pasture Trail, number 020, is six miles long and its northern end sits just beyond the east end of Foy Lake off Forest Road 100. That makes the lake a trailhead as well as a picnic ground, and it means a fishing afternoon can turn into a walk without moving the car. The southern portion of that trail covers very steep ground in both directions, so read the whole profile before committing to it.
The licence and the rules are per water
A current Utah fishing licence is required and the rules vary by water rather than by region, including limits and any special regulations on the specific lake. Check the current Utah Division of Wildlife Resources guidebook for the water you are actually standing at rather than assuming the range shares one rule. Stocking schedules also move, and a lake that fished well last August may not this one.
The details
Getting there
West out of Monticello on the Harts Draw corridor. Both lakes are signed off the forest road system, with Dalton Springs and Buckboard campgrounds along the same route.
Before you go
- A current Utah fishing licence is required and rules vary by water.
- These are small waters. Bring the right expectations and the right tackle.
- The access roads are dirt and close with the snow. Confirm before a shoulder season drive.
- Facilities are picnic ground rather than services. There is no shop up here.
- Foy Lake is also the north end of the six mile Robertson Pasture trail.
Ski or snowshoe from the Dalton Springs winter trailhead
Five miles west of town · Free · Once the snow settles
This is the entry that most surprises people about a town in southeastern Utah. About five miles west of Monticello, the Dalton Springs winter trailhead opens onto roughly six miles of cross country ski and snowshoe trail groomed by the city and a local club, plus the wider snowmobile and backcountry country above it.
At around 7,000 feet in town and higher at the trailhead, Monticello gets roughly 63 inches of snow across an average winter with December typically the snowiest month. That is enough to run a groomed trail system, which is why one exists here and does not exist at Moab or Blanding. It is the clearest single expression of what the elevation actually buys.
Groomed by a small town, so treat it accordingly
Six miles of groomed trail in a town of eighteen hundred people is a volunteer and municipal effort, not a resort operation. Grooming depends on snowfall, machines and people, and it can be current one week and not the next. Ask in town before driving up, do not ski on the classic tracks in snowshoes, and if a donation tin exists at the trailhead it is worth what it asks.
The rest of the range is unpatrolled backcountry
Beyond the groomed loops the Abajos in winter are avalanche terrain in places, unpatrolled everywhere, and out of mobile coverage throughout. That is fine for people equipped and trained for it and a serious matter for people who are not. The Utah Avalanche Center issues forecasts for this part of the state, and the ranger district can tell you what the road situation is on any given day.
The details
Getting there
West out of Monticello past the golf course and Loyds Lake on the road toward Dalton Springs. The winter trailhead is the plowed end of the maintained road.
Before you go
- Grooming depends on snowfall and volunteers. Ask in town before you drive up.
- Beyond the groomed loops is unpatrolled backcountry with avalanche terrain in it.
- Check the Utah Avalanche Center forecast for this region before going beyond the trails.
- No mobile coverage on the mountain. Tell somebody your plan.
- The road is plowed to the trailhead and no further. Do not drive past the end of it.
The trail system
Eight named trails, and four of them have a use window.
The Forest Service identifies everything on this range by number, and the seasonal restriction on four of the trails is the single most useful thing to know before planning a ride here. These are the district's own figures, and distances are one way unless the entry says otherwise.
| Trail | Length | Runs between | Bikes and motorcycles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skyline 015 | 5.3 miles | Forest Road 095 to Forest Road 354 | No seasonal restriction listed |
| Robertson Pasture 020 | 6 miles | Forest Road 079 to beyond Foy Lake | 15 May to 1 October only |
| Aspen Flat 018 | 5.3 miles | Forest Road 381 to Forest Road 104 | 15 May to 1 October only |
| Red Ledges 019 | 5.0 miles | Aspen Flat 018 to Robertson Pasture 020 | 15 May to 1 October only |
| Spring Creek 159 | 2.7 miles | Trail 020 to Forest Road 113 | 15 May to 1 October only |
| Shay Ridge 162 | 5.0 miles | Forest Road 104 to Forest Road 354 | Vehicles 50 inches or less |
| Wagon Wheel 168 | 3.1 miles | Forest Road 084 to Forest Road 087 | Open, crosses Verdure Creek |
| Camp Jackson 016 | 3.9 miles | Forest Road 084 to Forest Road 386 | Open, with steep sections |
Figures are from the Manti-La Sal National Forest Monticello Ranger District's own Abajo Mountains guide. Loops can be built between several of these using Forest Roads 079 and 354. Camp Jackson Reservoir, which the trail of that name heads toward, sits on private land. Confirm current conditions and any changes to the use windows with the district on 435-587-2041.
Autumn on this range is limited entry elk season, and it matters. The San Juan unit, which takes in the Abajos and Elk Ridge, is one of the hardest limited entry elk tags to draw in Utah and it draws serious hunters when it runs. That does not close the mountain to anybody else, but it does mean that from late summer through autumn you should know when the seasons are, wear something visible, keep a dog close, and expect the forest roads and the campgrounds to be busier than the rest of the year suggests. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources publishes the current dates.
