The water Paragonah
The one destination this town has entirely to itself
Red Creek Reservoir, eight miles east and a long way up.
Sixty acres of stocked trout water on the Markagunt Plateau, reached by a good gravel road that leaves SR-143 above Parowan, runs about nineteen miles, comes down toward Summit on a very steep grade and closes for the winter. It is the same creek that runs through Paragonah and gave the town its first name, several thousand feet higher up.
Start here
Sixty acres of trout water at the top of a gravel road.
Paragonah Reservoir, which almost everybody local calls Red Creek Reservoir, is about sixty acres of high mountain water roughly eight miles east of town and a long way up. It is stocked with rainbow trout and holds occasional tiger and brook trout, and its character is quiet, low pressure fishing rather than a busy recreation lake.
That is a fair description of the whole outing. There is no marina, no boat ramp worth the name, no visitor centre and no crowd. What there is is a small mountain reservoir on the Markagunt Plateau, a good gravel road to get to it, and a view back down toward the Parowan Valley that most people who live in it have never seen.
It is also the closest thing Paragonah has to a destination of its own, in a town that otherwise shares almost everything with the county seat four miles away.
The reservoir
~60
acres of water
~8 mi
east of Paragonah, and a long way up
9,560 ft
where Red Creek rises, near Willow Spring
19 mi
the full length of the access road
The drive
Nineteen miles, and the two ends are not equivalent.
The access road begins about eight miles up SR-143 from Parowan, which is the state highway that climbs toward Brian Head and Cedar Breaks and which belongs to the Parowan companion on this site. From that turning it runs east and then works its way round, a good gravel surface for most of its length, about nineteen miles in total, and comes back down off the high mountain toward Summit on a very steep grade.
That steep section is the part to plan around. It is the difference between a straightforward mountain drive and one that wants your full attention, and it matters more with a trailer, in poor weather, or at the end of a long day. Going up and back the way you came from the SR-143 side is the more forgiving option and is what most people sensibly do.
The road closes in winter, which at this elevation is a long closure rather than a short one. Snow arrives on the plateau early and stays late, and a road that is a comfortable gravel drive in August is not a road at all in February.
There is no fuel, water or service anywhere on this route. Nineteen miles of mountain gravel with a very steep section on it is not far until something goes wrong. Fill up in Parowan, take water, make sure the vehicle is in a state to do the whole route rather than half of it, and tell somebody which way you are going and roughly when you expect to be back. Phone coverage on the plateau is not something to rely on.
The fishery
Stocked rainbow, with tiger and brook trout in the mix.
This is a stocked fishery and that is the honest framing. Rainbow trout are the mainstay, put in by the Division of Wildlife Resources, with occasional tiger trout and brook trout in the mix. It fishes quietly, it does not get the pressure that the better known waters in this part of the state take, and for a family outing or an unhurried day with a fly rod it is genuinely good.
The thing to check is the stocking rather than the reputation. Small mountain reservoirs change character with the stocking programme and with what the winter did to them, so a report from two seasons ago tells you very little. The state publishes what goes in and when, and the current fishing guidebook carries the regulations and the limits.
Season is dictated by the road as much as by the water. Late spring to autumn is the working window, the shoulders are unreliable, and by the time the road is comfortably open the high country has usually stopped being cold enough to matter.
One further note on the water itself. Red Creek rises at about 9,560 feet near Willow Spring on the Markagunt Plateau, and this reservoir is that same drainage impounded on the way down. The creek that runs through the middle of Paragonah, waters its fields and gave the town its first name is the water you are fishing, eight miles and several thousand feet higher up. That connection is worth knowing and it is the reason this page sits in this companion rather than anybody else's.
Keep reading
More of Paragonah on The Local.
Things to do
The top 6, ranked
Six picks, and one of them is eleven hundred years older than the town.
Read the guideThe Fremont village
The Paragonah Mounds
Four hundred mounds in the late 1800s, and twenty eight protected now.
Read the guideThe founding
First called Red Creek
Four miles up the valley in 1851, for a second creek.
Read the guideThe calendar
The Pioneer Day Pie Auction
Six events a year, no venue, and no budget but the last one's takings.
Read the guideMoving here
Five minutes off the interstate
The land is here and the services are four miles away.
Read the guideThe companion
Paragonah, from a local
The mounds, the creek, the founding and the calendar.
Read the pageQuick answers
The reservoir, answered.
About sixty acres, which makes it a small mountain reservoir rather than a recreation lake. It sits roughly eight miles east of Paragonah and a long way up on the Markagunt Plateau, and it is stocked with rainbow trout with occasional tiger and brook trout in the mix. There is no marina and no crowd, and quiet low pressure fishing is the character of the place.
The access road leaves SR-143 about eight miles above Parowan and runs east, a good gravel surface for most of its length and about nineteen miles in total, coming back down off the high mountain toward Summit on a very steep grade. Going up and returning the way you came from the SR-143 side is the more forgiving option and is what most people do.
No. The road is closed in winter and at this elevation that is a long closure rather than a short one, since snow arrives on the plateau early and stays late. The working season is roughly late spring to autumn, with unreliable shoulders at both ends. A road that is a comfortable gravel drive in August is not a road at all in February.
Stocked rainbow trout as the mainstay, put in by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, with occasional tiger trout and brook trout. Because it is a stocked fishery in a small mountain reservoir, its character changes with the stocking programme and with what the winter did to it, so check the current stocking reports and the state fishing guidebook rather than relying on an old report.
Yes, a current Utah fishing licence, and you should read the current guidebook for the regulations and limits that apply to this water specifically. Small stocked reservoirs sometimes carry rules that differ from the general statewide ones, and those change from year to year. The Division of Wildlife Resources publishes both the guidebook and the stocking reports.
In dry conditions the gravel is generally good and a careful driver in an ordinary vehicle manages it, but the very steep grade coming off the high mountain toward Summit is the section to think about, particularly with a trailer or late in the day. There is no fuel, water or service anywhere on the nineteen mile route, and phone coverage on the plateau is not something to rely on.
No. SR-143 above Parowan is the Patchwork Parkway, a National Scenic Byway, and it belongs to the Parowan companion on this site, which covers the road, the drive and what is on it. This page uses its first eight miles as the way to the reservoir turning and stops there. The gravel road east from that turning is Paragonah's, and the reservoir at the end of it is the subject here.
At about 9,560 feet near Willow Spring on the Markagunt Plateau. It comes down the mountain, is impounded as this reservoir on the way, and then runs through the middle of Paragonah and out to the irrigated fields north and south of it. The water you are fishing at sixty acres is the same water that gave the town its first name, several thousand feet lower down.
Not a great deal, and that is the appeal. This is high plateau country with the reservoir, the road and a long view back down toward the Parowan Valley. Brian Head and Cedar Breaks are further along SR-143 and are covered from the towns that own them on this site. If you want facilities, a visitor centre or company, this is the wrong drive; if you want a small lake and nobody at it, it is exactly right.
Nineteen miles of gravel for sixty acres of quiet.
It is the one destination this town has entirely to itself, on the same creek that named it. If the drive has you looking at the valley rather than the plateau, the mover page covers the water rights, the shares and the practical business of buying into a farming town four miles from a county seat.