Utah’s southwest is a land full of breathtaking vistas and striking formations, and you’d be hard pressed to find a better place to explore it from than Kane County. With national parks and recreation areas in every direction, lovers of the outdoors could spend weeks in this area without exhausting the possibilities for hiking, scenic drives, camping, or mountain biking.

For starters, there’s the sprawling Grand Staircase of the Escalante National Monument, an enormous area of sandstone cliffs, rugged plateaus, and winding unpaved roads. Head a little farther east and you’ll come to Lake Powell, whose scenic finger canyons are loved by boaters and anglers. Travel south and you’ll come to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon; on the west is the noble grandeur of Zion National Park; to the north you’ll discover the arches of Bryce Canyon and the sharp spires of Cedar Breaks. Everywhere you look, there’s something new to see.

You might expect crowds and traffic to go with all this scenery, but most of this area receives little visitation and maintains an ageless solitude. Sleepy little towns like Alton and Mount Carmel Junction fit in unassuming niches in the landscape, while the city of Kanab has full services, art galleries, and annual Western-themed events.