Mt. Carmel Scenic Byway

Mt. Carmel Scenic Byway is that 60-mile stretch of US Highway 89 between Kanab and Bryce Canyon Junction at Utah Highway 12. A lot of this is red rock country, especially north of Kanab but the vegetation tneds to the sagbrush-and-chaparral side of things. This countryside runs along the western edge of the Colorado Plateau and tends to be high altitude desert. Geologically speaking, most of Long Valley is a fault block valley between the two uplift blocks of the Markagunt and Paunsaugunt Plateaus.

Brigham Young sent settlers into this area early on in the 1850's but Native American opposition was such that most settlements didn't survive until the early 1870's. Irrigation projects in the area have turned parts of Long Valley into green oases of cultivated fields and fruit orchards since then.

The countryside is multi-colored rolling hills and semi-arid. The route primarily ties together such roads and places as Utah's Patchwork Parkway, Scenic Byway 12, Markagunt High Plateau Scenic Byway, Zion Park Scenic Byway and Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. To the east are the pink and white cliffs of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, to the west the towers of Zion National Park.