Is Blanding, Utah Worth Visiting? 10 Reasons It Is!

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Blanding, Utah is a little stopover town between Moab and Monument Valley. It’s popular to just spend the night in and move on.

However, I think it’s worth spending a day or two in Blanding. The town itself, I’ll gladly admit, is nothing to write home about, but everything around it is.

Today I’m going to share all the reasons Blanding, Utah is worth visiting because while it doesn’t look like much, it has a lot to offer.

National Park Goodies

If you’re planning to visit three or more national parks within a year from your trip, definitely get the America the Beautiful pass. It will save you money in the long run if you’re going to more than three parks in a year. Buy the pass here.
If you’re planning on doing a lot of hiking on your trip, or even at home, check out AllTrails! This is my favorite app to find, keep track of, and track my hiking activity. And it’s FREE! Sign up here.
This Ultimate National Park Planning Bundle is a must-have. You get two ebooks and a planner, saving 50% by getting them as a bundle! If you want all the details, this is the bundle for you. Buy the Ultimate bundle here.
Doing a road trip? Want an adventure? Consider an Escape Campervan Rental! It’s a great way to see the parks and is perfect for couples and small (but close) friend groups. Book a campervan here!
This National Park Planner (one of the ebooks from the bundle above) is perfect if you just want some guidance in your planning. Buy the planner here.
Get yourself a National Park journal for all of the NPS sites (400+!) to keep track of your travels!
Consider reading some of these books set in national parks before your big trip, on your adventure, or once you get home to take you back to the parks until next time.

It’s home to Edge of the Cedars State Park

First up is Edge of the Cedars State Park, one of the best things to do right in Blanding.

It’s a museum right on the edge of town, but basically in town, where you can see the largest collection of Anasazi pottery and artifacts in the Four Corners region, as well as about their life and culture.

The museum isn’t huge but it does have a lot to see in it. I’ve been twice and enjoyed it both times. There’s also a short trail around a ruin out back that you can go into.

It’s the gateway to Bears Ears

Bears Ears National Monument is a huge and remote monument kind of between Blanding and Canyonlands.

All of the roads in the monument are dirt and varying roughness. The main road isn’t in too bad of shape but any side roads are going to be worse.

It’s an absolutely beautiful area and home to tons of Anasazi ruins and rock art.

While I love the area and think it’s beautiful, I would probably skip it unless you have a 4WD high clearance vehicle, and probably a map of the area.

Get a Cedar Mesa and Grand Gulch map here!

And its close to Natural Bridges National Monument

On the same road you would take to get to Bears Ears, but before the pavement ends, is Natural Bridges National Monument.

This is a great reason to visit Blanding and one of the main reasons people spend the night here.

You can do one long hike to see all three bridges or three shorter hikes to see them separately. It’s a nice park and can generally be seen with just a couple of hours.

The Moki Dugway is close, too

The Moki Dugway (or Moki Deathway as I like to call it) is an alternate route to get from Highway 95 near Halls Crossing to Valley of the Gods.

It’s a set of dirt switchbacks (pictured above) taking you down the side of the cliff. There are no guardrails and traffic goes both ways.

I don’t think it’s that scary, I think the Burr Trail switchbacks are worse, but a lot of people that came to the hotel in Bullfrog (and on Facebook) said it was terrifying.

And Valley of the Gods

At the bottom of the Moki Dugway you’ll find Valley of the Gods, a scenic dirt drive through a valley filled with buttes and rock formations.

I didn’t love it myself, though it is beautiful and definitely worth doing if you’ve never been to the area before.

Most cars should be able to make the drive but high clearance wouldn’t hurt. There isn’t much for hiking along the road but there are some Geocaches and it would be great for camping.

Once you’re done you can pop over to Goosenecks State Park to enjoy the view there, too.

There are thousands of rock art sites

Ok, maybe not thousands, but there are hundreds for sure. There might be thousands but you’re going to have to do a lot of work to find them.

I haven’t seen much rock art over here, but I know it’s there. GJhikes and Americansouthwest are my favorite resources to find rock art in the area.

Some sites are much easier to get to than others, like the Upper Sand Island petroglyphs near Bluff.

Things to keep in mind when visiting rock art & ruins:

Do not touch the rock art (pictographs or petroglyphs) because the oils on our fingers can degrade them.
If you find artifacts, do not take them. Leave them where they are and just take pictures.
If there are structures (rooms, kivas, anything like that) don’t enter them unless it is stated that you can. Most places you can’t but national and state parks will have restored structures you can enter. Mesa Verde, Edge of the Cedars, and Anasazi Museum all have ruins you can enter.
And finally, don’t carve in or write or paint or draw on the rocks! I don’t want to have to say this, but I need to for real.

And just as many ancient ruins

If you enjoy seeing petroglyphs and pictographs, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll also enjoy visiting the Anasazi ruins that fill the Four Corners area.

There are tons that have trails, and hundreds more that don’t, but you’ll have to work hard for those, too.

House on Fire (pictured above) is pretty cool as it looks like the roof is on fire in the right light.

Butler Wash Ruins, Five Kiva Pueblo, and the Halls Crossing Ruins are all easy to get to ruins near Blanding.

It’s centrally located between a lot of cool places

la sal mountains at sunset moab utah arches national park

Like I mentioned above, Blanding is pretty much right between Moab and Monument Valley.

It’s near Bears Ears, Natural Bridges, Mesa Verde, Hovenweep, Valley of the Gods, and Cedar Mesa in general.

There are a lot of really great things within an hour or two of Blanding which makes for a lot of great reasons to visit.

And not too hard on the wallet

While Blanding isn’t like, a top budget destination, it is much easier on the wallet than Moab.

It doesn’t have as many restaurants (and by that I mean there are only a couple) but the hotels are much more affordable.

I would still spend a night or two in Moab because it’s wonderful, but Blanding is a great base for the area.

Plus, it’s much less busy than Moab

Finally, it’s much less busy than Moab. If you just want to visit Arches and Canyonlands, of course Moab is better, but Blanding is a hidden gem for outdoor lovers.

Not only is it a great place to visit in Utah if you love nature, but it also makes for a great weekend getaway.

And best of all, you won’t have to fight the crowds (and traffic) of Moab. Blanding may not be the cutest little town ever but it definitely deserves a visit, even if just for the surrounding area.