Fodor's Expert Review Hell's Backbone Road

For a scenic, topsy-turvy backcountry drive or a challenging mountain-bike ride, follow 35-mile Hell's Backbone Road (aka Forest Road 153) from Escalante, where it begins as Posey Lake Road, to Boulder. Built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the early 1930s, it's a gravel-surface alternate route to scenic Highway 12. You can make the drive with an ordinary passenger car in summer (it's impassable in winter), assuming dry conditions, but a four-wheel-drive vehicle is more comfortable. Allow about two hours to drive it. At roughly the midway point, the dramatic 109-foot-long Hell's Backbone Bridge, which crosses over a breathtaking 1,500-foot chasm, makes for a memorable photo op.