The Bentonite Hills, Utah

The Bentonite Hills look like you're on another planet.

These rainbow colored mountains are located in central Utah about an hour from Hanksville.

You'll need a high clearance vehicle with 4-wheel drive, but it's definitely worth making the trip.

From Hanksville it's about an hour and 6 minutes to get there. (33.5 Miles)

We took Highway UT-24 heading west for about 29 minutes to the Cathedral Valley OHV Trailhead.

Once you get to the Cathedral Valley OHV Trailhead, you cross a river and take a dirt road to the Bentonite Hills. This is 8.5 miles of off roading. This is about a 45 minute to a one hour drive.

When we got to the first turnoff to the Cathedral Valley OHV Trailhead, a boulder had fallen and was blocking that road. We went down to the 2nd entrance instead.

As we got to the 2nd entrance it was pretty level dirt road that takes you to the river crossing.

We finally arrived at the Cathedral Valley OHV Trailhead. This is where we cross the river in our vehicle to the other side. You make a right going into the river and go down a litttle bit and then turn left out of the river. You will see the road to turn left. You definitely want a high clearance 4-wheel drive vehicle to do this. We were in a Ford Ranger with big tires and we crossed just fine.

After we crossed the river, we followed the winding dirt road out of the green oasis into the desert. There were some amazing views along the way.

We pulled over by a big canyon to take in the views

From there we got back into the truck and kept driving. You'll know you're going the right way when you see the cattle guard crossing. We crossed that and that's when we started hitting the rougher areas on the dirt road.

We then came to an open area that had an old truck and trailer.

From there, we were almost to the Bentonite Hills. We got back onto the road. As you get closer, you start to get into the small mountains with rings of reds, whites, and greens.

Up by the big rock, there is a pull out area where you can park and go explore these amazing hills.

Overall, we loved exploring the Bentonite Hills and would highly recommend going.

The Bentonite Hills, Utah Map:

(Click on the map above to go to a Google Maps larger view.)

The Bentonite Hills is free to go to. It is located outside of any National Park. You will need a 4-wheel drive high clearance vehicle, but besides that it is free. 

Price: $0

These are the checklist items I recommend:

• A high clearance 4-wheel drive vehicle with a full tank of gas.
• Bring a hat to keep the sun off of your face.
• Wear shoes with good grip or hiking shoes. 
• Bring water and food.