Guides
3 Moab and Santa Fe byways where red rock signs mark the route
Three signed red rock corridors out of Moab and Santa Fe plus the highway agencies that post and maintain each route marker along these scenic byways.
What to take away
- Utah Scenic Byway 128 leaves US 191 three miles north of Moab and follows the Colorado River 44 miles to Cisco, signed and maintained by the Utah Department of Transportation.
- The Canyonlands viewpoints are not one road. Utah 313 is a state highway; the spurs off it split between the National Park Service inside the boundary and the Bureau of Land Management outside it.
- The Turquoise Trail is NM 14 between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, about 50 miles, with interpretive panels at Golden, Madrid, Cerrillos and San Pedro.
- The High Road to Taos is not a single highway. It is a signed sequence of NM 503, NM 76 and NM 75 through Chimayo, Cordova, Truchas and Penasco.
- Who maintains a segment decides when it reopens. Closures, surface changes and missing signs follow ownership, not the byway name.
Four corridors, two base towns
Two signed routes leave Moab. Two leave Santa Fe. Each is a numbered or named road you can follow without hiring anyone, and each carries markers that tell you which agency owns the pavement under you.
That ownership is the part worth learning. When a storm closes a segment, or a cattle guard drops into a wash, the agency that signs the road is the agency that fixes it, and the agency whose road conditions page you check before you leave.
Moab sits on the Colorado River in Grand County, Utah, between Arches National Park and the Manti-La Sal range. Santa Fe sits at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. From either downtown you reach byway pavement in about fifteen minutes.
Red rock ties the four together. Around Moab the rock is Navajo sandstone and Cutler Formation, stained by iron oxide. The same red beds surface in the Cerrillos Hills and along the Rio Grande rift.
Most land along these corridors is public, which is why they stayed scenic. The What We Manage | Bureau of Land Management page shows how much of the Southwest sits under that federal umbrella.
Utah Scenic Byway 128, the river road
Utah Scenic Byway 128, also called the Upper Colorado River Scenic Byway, leaves US 191 about three miles north of Moab and runs northeast roughly 44 miles to Cisco.
The Utah Department of Transportation posts the byway shield, a small sign with a stylized canyon scene, at junctions and at intervals. Mileposts are standard Utah DOT mileposts, so a call to a dispatcher can put you at a number.
Land along the road is a patchwork. The BLM manages most of the river corridor, including the stretches near Big Bend and Grandstaff Canyon. Private ranches and the Manti-La Sal National Forest hold the rest.
Named stops are signed. Fisher Towers is a red sandstone fin cluster with a picnic area and trailhead. Big Bend Recreation Site sits on a river bend. Professor Valley opens into a wide basin with the La Sals behind it.
Services are thin. There is no gas between Moab and Cisco and no reliable cell coverage in the canyon. Fill up in Moab and carry water. The pavement runs the whole way, but winter storms leave ice on shaded bends.
The site's guide to read a scenic byway route marker breaks down the shield shapes and colors state DOTs use, which is how you tell a byway marker from a county road sign at a junction.
Canyonlands viewpoints and who signs them
The Canyonlands viewpoints are a set of signed spur roads off US 191 and Utah 313, west and northwest of Moab, looking over the Island in the Sky district and the BLM land around it.
Utah 313 is the main access. It leaves US 191 about nine miles north of Moab and runs southwest to the park entrance. The state DOT signs and maintains that highway.
From Utah 313, spurs lead to overlooks. Grand View Point sits at the end of the paved road inside the park, and the National Park Service maintains that segment and its signs.
Outside the boundary, the BLM manages the mesa top and the Shafer Trail corridor. BLM signs mark the Canyonlands Needles Overlook, the Anticline Overlook and the Hatch Point area. Surfaces there run from pavement to graded gravel depending on the segment.
A worked example: drive US 191 north from Moab and turn left on Utah 313 at the sign for Canyonlands and Dead Horse Point. Follow the state highway past the Dead Horse Point turnoff to the Island in the Sky entrance, then follow NPS signs to Grand View Point. The run is about 40 miles one way.
Before committing to a spur, check which segments are paved, graded or four wheel drive only. The Maps | Bureau of Land Management page carries route and land status maps for exactly that check.
The Turquoise Trail and its roadside panels
The Turquoise Trail is NM 14, about 50 miles between Albuquerque and Santa Fe on the east side of the Sandia Mountains, and a New Mexico state scenic byway.
The New Mexico Department of Transportation posts the route markers and byway signs. The corridor passes through the old mining towns of Golden, Madrid, Cerrillos and San Pedro, plus Cedar Crest.
Interpretive panels are the trail's signature. They stand at pullouts and town centers and explain the coal and turquoise mining behind the name. State, county and local groups share the maintenance, so a panel can be legible in Madrid and weathered in Golden.
The route also holds National Scenic Byway status under the Federal Highway Administration program, which brings federal signage standards and grant eligibility. The Home Page | America's Byways lists the byway and its official description.
Madrid is the busiest stop, with galleries and a mining museum in the old company town. Cerrillos keeps a false front main street. Golden has a territorial period church and cemetery.
For what each panel actually covers, the article on Turquoise Trail roadside signs walks the markers town by town.
The High Road to Taos and New Mexico signing
The High Road to Taos is a New Mexico state designated route linking Santa Fe and Taos through the Sangre de Cristo foothills. It is not one numbered highway but a signed sequence of state and county roads.
New Mexico DOT posts the brown and white High Road markers at decision points. County signs carry local names, such as the road through Chimayo.
The classic line leaves Santa Fe on US 84/285 north to Pojoaque, turns east on NM 503 through Nambe and Chimayo, continues north on NM 76 through Cordova and Truchas, drops to Penasco and joins NM 75 to Taos.
Named stops include El Santuario de Chimayo, a pilgrimage church, and the Truchas plaza, which sits above the Rio Grande valley at roughly 8,000 feet. The route crosses several Pueblo and land grant communities.
Signing here is more than navigation. The corridor crosses tribal, county and private land, so access rules change with the landowner, and the current published rule is the one that applies. The U.S. Board on Geographic Names | U.S. Geological Survey database sorts out official place names along the way.
Winter is the constraint. NM 76 and NM 75 climb above 7,000 feet and can close in snow. Check New Mexico DOT road conditions before leaving Santa Fe.
The site's guide to ghost towns, overlooks covers the kind of detour that fits between the High Road's named stops.
Which agency maintains each corridor
The split is simple once you know who owns the pavement. Numbered state highways belong to the state DOT. Roads on federal land belong to the agency that manages the land. County roads belong to the county.
| Corridor | Signing agency | Surface owner | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Utah Scenic Byway 128 | Utah DOT | BLM, private, US Forest Service | Paved, no services |
| Utah 313 and Canyonlands spurs | Utah DOT and NPS | State, NPS, BLM | Paved to park, gravel spurs |
| Turquoise Trail (NM 14) | New Mexico DOT | State, private, county | Paved, panels at stops |
| High Road to Taos | New Mexico DOT | State, county, tribal, private | Paved, winter closures |
The BLM signs and maintains roads on the public land it manages, including many Canyonlands viewpoints and the river corridor along Utah Scenic Byway 128. Its Visit | Bureau of Land Management pages list access points and closures for those areas.
State DOTs handle the numbered highways: Utah DOT for 128 and 313, New Mexico DOT for NM 14, NM 503, NM 76 and NM 75. That covers byway shields, mileposts and most warning signs.
The National Park Service signs roads inside park boundaries, such as the Island in the Sky road to Grand View Point. The US Forest Service signs roads on national forest land, including parts of the Manti-La Sal.
It pays to plan scenic routes around who maintains each segment, because closures and surface changes follow ownership rather than the byway name.
For human context, local scenic routes knowledge from field offices, volunteers and printed brochures often beats any app, especially on the county stretches where signs go missing.
Common questions
What is the best base for Utah Scenic Byway 128?
Moab. The byway starts about three miles north of town on US 191, so you can reach it in minutes and return the same day.
Are the Canyonlands viewpoints paved?
Utah 313 and the road to Grand View Point inside the park are paved. Several BLM spur roads to overlooks are graded gravel and may need high clearance.
Who maintains the Turquoise Trail?
New Mexico DOT signs and maintains NM 14. Interpretive panels are maintained by a mix of state, county and local groups, so condition varies from town to town.
Is the High Road to Taos one highway?
No. It is a signed sequence of state and county roads, including NM 503, NM 76 and NM 75, marked by New Mexico DOT byway signs at decision points.
