Why Utah is Perfect for a Road Trip with Teens

By Rhonda Carrier

Driving from the abandoned ghost town of Thompson Springs deep into Sego Canyon, we feel more than a little bit spooked out. There’s not another soul around, and we have no real idea how far we need to venture, having driven out here on a recommendation from a chance local who materialised from the rail tracks like something out of a David Lynch movie and may not actually have existed. But after about 10 minutes, we spot a remote sign, and then we see the petroglyphs. 

'Base yourselves in Moab for cosy evenings around the campfire of your tipi, nearby activities including river-rafting along the Colorado, and global delights from this minuscule city’s fantastic food-truck park.'

Parking the car, we stare at the rock art, making out shields, horses, bison, anthropomorphic figures… A sign informs us the work was created by the nomadic Ute people, who inhabited this region from around 1300AD until 1880, when they were forcibly relocated to reservations. The American past is a brutal thing and seeing some of its many layers embedded in the strata of the earth itself  is a very powerful thing - a double whammy of history, as it were.

Thompson Springs

Mums (and sure, dads too) may very well recognise Thompson Springs, with its one motel like something out of Psycho and its abandoned structures, together with many of Utah’s spectacular landscapes, from the iconic movie Thelma and Louise – which is an unbelievable 35 years old in 2026. 

Some of the film's key filming locations are in Arches National Park, which, like Sego Canyon, is part of the Book Cliffs region of Utah. Arches’ many phallic-shaped rocks keep both kids and adults amused, but there’s plenty more to ogle, including, true to the name, more than 2,000 natural sandstone arches, and further Ute petroglyphs, these ones depicting figures on horseback.

Rugged pathways thread between some of the arches, so you can get a surprisingly up-close look at these geological marvels, and there are easy and moderate hiking trails, one of which (Fiery Furnace) requires a permit. And bear in mind that you do need to book timed entry to the park, as visitor numbers are managed for obvious reasons.

Near Arches, Dead Horse State Park is a more off the beaten track, but the views en route are out of this world, and they get even better once you’re inside, where various overlooks lord it over the Colorado River, Canyonlands National Park and some unique  ‘blue reservoirs’ – potash evaporation ponds that contrast dazzlingly with the fiery red-rock surrounds, and where you’re likely to see chipmunks scurrying around. Dead Horse is where Thelma and Louise met their rebellious end.

Dead Horse State Park

If you make a road-trip to and around this part of Utah (that is, the south-east, on the Colorado Plateau), you’ll probably want to base yourself in or around Moab, where we can recommend both the Moab RV and Glamping Park, a brilliant option with kids – we’ll never forget our cosy evenings around our campfire outside our tipi – and the newly refurbished Red Cliffs Lodge Moab with its outdoor pool with soaring canyon views. 

We shared Red Cliffs with happy families from both near (Colorado) and far (France), all here for activities including river-rafting along the Colorado. Moab itself is a welcoming, laidback little city of just over 5000 souls, featuring a fantastic food-truck park with all kinds of local and global goodies to pick from and lots of other cool places to eat and drink, plus great book shops and other boutiques – teens, and adults, love the vibe.

You could access Arches and Moab from Las Vegas, taking in the other Utah national parks en route – Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef and Canyonlands. Or you might drop down from Salt Lake City, about three hours from Moab. The scenery is breathtaking in its changing aspects for much of the route, and you can make stop-offs at classic gas-station diners for a dose of full-on Americana.

To round off a Utah road trip in perfect style or to continue making the most of its wild landscapes, book in at Salt Lake City’s evo hotel, an ‘adventure base camp’ designed for adventurous travellers , with vast swathes of climbing wall, a skate park, a sauna, yoga classes, and a rooftop bar with views of the Wasatch mountains, where you might join locals hiking, mountain biking and climbing, or skiing and snowboarding in winter. There are rooms with two doubles/queens, or family rooms with a king and bunks.

Evo Salt Lake City

Other Great US Road Trips with Kids

• The Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1) from San Francisco to Los Angeles and the beaches of southern California (the likes of Santa Monica or Huntington, with an incursion into Yosemite National Park.
• The Florida Keys, including eco snorkelling with Key Largo’s Coral Restoration Foundation.
• South Dakota, including Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial and the Badlands National Park.
• The Deep South – perhaps between the music-loving cities of Nashville and New Orleans, both thrilling places for teens.
• Route 66 – a whopping 3,940km in its entirety (from Chicago, Illinois, to Santa Monica, California, via Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona). Highlights include the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona.

Ask us about organised adventure holidays in the USA, which as well as road trips including car or RV hire might also embrace dude ranch holidays. We can tailor-make a USA family holiday exactly to your needs and wishes, from New York to Hawaii and everything in-between.