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Click the audio button at the end of each section to hear a digital reader with correct phonetics.
The guide is a 26-minute read at the default audio speed.
There are two ways to navigate this guide. First, use the table of contents at the top of the page to skip to any section, or second, scroll down to each section.
Each section has a header, a body of text, an audio button, and an optional "back to top" hyperlink for the table of contents.
Utah State Parks and the Utah State Library for the Blind are actively generating tactile graphics, large print, and Braille transcriptions of park exhibits, brochures, Jr Ranger books, and more. We aim to bring meaningful experiences to your next road trip. We can prioritize State Parks you plan to visit. Advance notice can help us meet requests. Email requests to monicastamm@utah.gov.
The Utah State Parks website is stateparks.utah.gov.
This guide spotlights low-vision and blind-friendly opportunities at 17 destinations. The guide has eight sections, How to navigate the guide, introduction and tips, and highlights in 6 geographical regions.
It's time to discover what Utah State Parks have to offer. Touch 200-million-year-old dinosaur tracks or the skull of a bison, go fishing, or enjoy a stroll through nature. 46 Utah State Parks are scattered across the state. This includes rustic undeveloped wilderness to parks with museums or tiny houses, yurts, teepees, and other alternative campsite accommodations.
Day-use fees are paid online or at the entrance station or museum. Your park fees provide for the care, protection, and enhancement of State Parks. Please note that Utah State Parks are not federal sites. Utah State Parks and National Parks Service passes are not interchangeable.
Let us know if you are a participant in the Braille eReader pilot program through the Utah State Library for the Blind. And please share feedback and suggestions about this guide and your park experiences by emailing monicastamm@utah.gov.
Traveling to state parks is often part of a multi-day road trip with stops at various parks, heritage sites, and wilderness areas. This guide makes mention of popular destinations near State Parks that are often visited in the same trip.
5 tips for visitors with low vision or blindness.
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Antelope Island State Park
Located on the Great Salt Lake. An 8-mile road splits through the section of the lake from Syracuse to the island. Syracuse sits between Bountiful and Ogden west of the Wasatch Mountains. The park naturalist's phone number is 801-721-9569.
Welcome to one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world. This enormous lake supports a diverse ecosystem and the park provides many learning opportunities.
3 Park Highlights:
Great Salt Lake State Park
Located off I-80 on the South end of the lake. Just west of historic Saltair. This small park is 25 minutes west of downtown Salt Lake City. The visitor center is the size of a triple-wide trailer, which includes a gift shop, restrooms, and interpretive displays. The park's number is 801-828-0787. Ask for the ranger or naturalist.
3 Park Highlights:
Willard Bay State Park
Located on the edge of the Great Salt Lake, this park is 20 minutes north of Ogden and an hour outside of Salt Lake City. The park's phone number is 435-734-9494.
Willard Bay is a man-made freshwater reservoir adjacent to the Great Salt Lake. This park is excellent for picnics, walking, and water sports.
3 Park Highlights:
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The Wasatch Mountains are east of the Salt Lake Valley. A string of Utah State Parks are located along reservoirs in the area, which we refer to as the Wasatch Back. Our spotlight is on Wasatch Mountain State Park and the Rock Cliff Nature Center at the south end of Jordanelle State Park. The two areas are just 20 minutes apart, in Midway and Kamas, just south of Park City.
Wasatch Mountain State Park
Hands-on Interactive programs at this park are a delight. The park phone number is 435-654-1791. Ask for the Naturalist.
3 Park Highlights:
Jordanelle State Park
The park's main office phone number is 435-649-9540. Ask for the manager for current Rock Cliff Nature Center information.
Paved areas and a wood boardwalk weave through the Rock Cliff area of the park. The nature center is open depending on volunteer availability 10 am to 5 pm Sundays. Areas of the boardwalk may be under construction for improvements. For Braille and tactile graphics of trailside signage about the seasonal wetland, please email monicastamm@utah.gov. Advance notice will allow us to provide more material.
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Drive east of the Wasatch and Uintah Mountains to Vernal, Utah. You are now in the area fondly known as Dinosaur Land. Giant dinosaur sculptures are scattered across town, and the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum is in the heart of the city. Red Fleet State Park is to the North and Dinosaur National Monument is a half hour to the east.
Utah Field House of Natural History Museum State Park
The park phone number is 435-789-3799. Ask for the Outreach Program Specialist or Curator.
This museum experience begins as soon as you come through the doors. The entrance leads into a vast two-story rotunda with a full-sized long-necked brontosaurus skeleton on display. Each giant skeletal foot has its own pedestal and visitors walk under and around the dinosaur to the elevator or main floor exhibit areas. Buy tickets at the front desk and enjoy the adjacent gift shop.
6 Park Highlights:
Red Fleet State Park
This spectacular part of Dinosaur Land is 20 minutes north of Vernal towards Flaming Gorge. The phone number is 435-789-4432. Ask for a Park Manager or Ranger.
From the park's dock or beach area, you can boat or paddle board across the narrow reservoir to a dinosaur trackway site. The landscape around you is an ancient field of fossilized sand dunes. You can walk across and touch fossilized dinosaur tracks 120,000,000 years old. The tracks are on a slanted slab of sandstone that comes out of the water. Depending on the water level, tracks may be close enough to the waterline to touch without walking up the sandstone slope. An easily accessible interpretive pavilion with models of tracks will be available when the new campground expansion is complete, likely in 2026.
Paddle boards and canoes are available for rent at the entrance station. Rentals include life jackets.
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Highway I-15 runs north-south down the west side of the state. Several State Parks sit near the I-15. From Fillmore in central Utah, moving south to St George, we'll highlight 3 museums and one recreation park, Territorial Statehouse, Fremont Indian, and Frontier Homestead State Park Museums, and Snow Canyon State Park. National Parks Zion and Cedar Breaks are nearby. We will highlight three more State Parks further off the main highway that you might like to bundle into the same road trip in the next section.
Territorial Statehouse State Park Museum
The museum is located in the heart of Fillmore, just off the I-15 in central Utah. The phone number is 435-743-5316.
The Museum is Utah’s oldest existing governmental building. In anticipation of Utah’s statehood, early pioneer Brigham Young directed the construction of the building as the State’s capitol. Only the south wing was ever completed. Three restored pioneer cabins and an 1867 stone schoolhouse are on the museum grounds.
The highlights of this museum are the festivals and school trips. Building log cabins, celebrating Native American culture with song and dance, and pioneer heritage with arts, crafts, and oral history. Call the museum for information or visit their event page.
Fremont Indian State Park Museum:
Located in Central Utah near Richfield, Utah. East of the I-15 I-70 highway junction. This museum is a great place to stay or stop if you are headed south towards St George or east towards Moab. The park's phone number is 435-527-4631. Ask for the curator.
Discover artifacts, petroglyphs, and pictographs left behind by the Mokwik People, known as the Fremont Indians. This park is a popular stop for ATV riders, campers, and tourists. A comprehensive guide to the park is available in this same audio format at this link. Use the guide to learn more about recreation, facilities, and heritage of the site. The content is a 30-minute read at the default audio speed.
4 park highlights:
Frontier Homestead State Park Museum
Located in Cedar City, Utah. The phone number is 435-586-9290. This museum is known for its festivals.
3 park highlights:
Snow Canyon State Park
Our last stop in the southwest is west of the I-15, just 15 minutes outside St. George. The phone number is 435-628-2255. Ask for a manager, naturalist, or ranger.
4 Park Highlights:
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South of Fremont Indian State Park and Museum on I-70 and east of Highway I-15, our spotlight turns to Otter Creek, Escalante Petrified Forest, and Anasazi Museum State Parks. These parks are near Bryce Canyon, Capital Reef, and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Parks and Monuments. Note that State Parks are separate from similarly named National Parks in Utah and Arizona, so verify you are heading to the intended petrified forest.
Otter Creek State Park
Welcome to a popular RV camping and year-round fishing park with an excellent exhibit about wildlife in the entrance station. The phone number is 435-624-3268.
Travelers en route from Fremont Indian State Park Museum to Bryce Canyon and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments or Escalante Petrified Forest State Park may like to stop or stay at Otter Creek State Park. The entrance station features a tactile mural with animal cutouts, fur samples, and casts of paw prints.
Escalante Petrified Forest State Park
Our next stop is another reservoir park. The phone number is 435-826-4466.
2 park highlights:
The park has two full-time staff and seasonal workers in the summer. If a seasonal worker does not know where braille and large print items are, the manager will.
Anasazi State Park Museum
The museum is 45 minutes from Escalante Petrified Forest State Park. Located in the small town of Bolder in the center of Southern Utah. The phone number is 435-335-7308. Ask for the park manager.
3 Park Highlights:
Coming Soon. The exhibit space is in a redesign planning phase with advisors from the Library for the Blind, Services for the Blind, and Federation of the Blind of Utah. Reconstruction is planned for 2024.
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Highway I-70 starts on the west side of the state from I-15 and runs east across Utah and into Colorado. Green River is the main town where travelers will likely stop en route from northern or southwest Utah to Southeast Utah. Our Park Highlights for this area are Goblin Valley, Dead Horse Point, and Edge of the Cedars State Parks and Museum. Other public lands in the area include Capital Reef, Arches, Castle Valley, Canyonlands, and Hovenwheep National Parks and Monuments. Visitor centers and museums will have information about nearby attractions.
Goblin Valley State Park
Located in the San Rafael Swell geological region, less than an hour southwest of Green River. The phone number is 435-275-4584. Ask for the manager. This park is known for its geology and dark night skies.
3 Park Highlights:
Dead Horse Point State Park
Located 40 minutes from Moab. The phone number is 435-259-2614. Ask for a park manager or naturalist.
4 Park Highlights:
Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum
Located in southeastern Utah in Blanding. It is an hour and a half south of Moab. The park phone number is 435-678-2238. Ask for the park manager or curator.
4 Park Highlights:
Coming Soon to Edge of the Cedars. Braille and large print guides with tactile graphics of the trailside interpretive signs around the archaeology site. Please send requests to monicatamm@utahstateparks.gov or contact the park.
Edge of Cedars State Park Museum is a great addition to a 4-Corners heritage site tour which may include Hovenweep National Monument an hour to the east, Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico and Canyon De Chelly National Monument in Arizona. Contact National Parks for accessibility information about their parks.
That brings our guide to a close. Enjoy your travels across Utah. We'd love to hear about your visits to Utah State Parks. Let us know how we can improve this guide and if there is a tip, road trip, or State Park highlight you want us to share with our Blind and Low-Vision Community or others.