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8 Ghost Towns You Can Still Drive To in Carbon and Grand Counties, Utah: A Road Trip

8 stops216 milesabout 5 hr 25 min of drivingCarbon and Grand Counties, Utah

Map of the 8 Ghost Towns You Can Still Drive To in Carbon and Grand Counties, Utah route with 8 numbered stops in driving order
Stops numbered in driving order. Basemap: USGS The National Map (public domain). Route: OpenStreetMap contributors via OSRM.

This route links eight places recorded as ghost towns across eastern Utah. The title points to Carbon and Grand counties, and that's where six of the stops sit, but the route also takes in Woodside in Emery County and Colton in Utah County, and Hiawatha spans both Carbon and Emery. All told it's 216 miles and about five and a half hours of driving, not counting time spent stopped. The founding years on record run from 1881 at Woodside to 1916 at Peerless, with a cluster in the 1910s: Sego in 1910, Hiawatha in 1911, and Spring Canyon and Standardville both in 1912. Three stops lie within a few miles of Helper, so a couple of long legs give way to short hops in the middle of the day. Start early, check access locally before each stop, and expect cell coverage to be patchy in the rural stretches.

Route and drive times from OpenStreetMap routing (OSRM). Times are estimates without stops; roads to remote sites can be unpaved or seasonal.

  1. 1. Sego

    Grand County, Utah

    Building in Sego a ghost town near Thompson Springs. Formerly used as a boarding house, this building has collapsed since the photo was taken.
    Davemeistermoab / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

    Sego is the starting point, a ghost town in Grand County founded in 1910. It sits at 5,709 feet, and the nearest town is Green River, 25.4 miles away with a population of 804. Fill the tank in Green River and check access locally before heading out.

    Facts, map and sources for Sego →

  2. ↓ 28.6 miles, about 50 min

    2. Cisco

    Grand County, Utah

    Utah Ghosttown Cisco.
    Kevin Delaney (Yintercept at en.wikipedia) / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.5

    About 50 minutes and 28.6 miles on, Cisco is the second Grand County stop. The record puts it at 4,362 feet, lower than Sego's 5,709. Castle Valley, population 348, is the nearest town at 23.7 miles. No founding year is listed for Cisco, so that part of its story isn't covered here.

    Facts, map and sources for Cisco →

  3. ↓ 75.2 miles, about 1 hr 29 min

    3. Woodside

    Emery County, Utah

    Roadside filling station at the ghost town of Woodside, Utah
    Tricia Simpson / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

    A 75.2-mile drive, just under an hour and a half, brings you to Woodside in Emery County. It was founded in 1881. East Carbon, home to 1,476 people, is the nearest town, 19 miles away. This leg is a good one to plan a break around.

    Facts, map and sources for Woodside →

  4. ↓ 62.1 miles, about 1 hr 22 min

    4. Colton

    Utah County, Utah

    Hilltop Country Store, one of the few remnants of the ghost town of Colton, Utah, United States.
    Ntsimp / Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

    Colton takes you into Utah County and up to 7,235 feet, the elevation on record for this settlement founded in 1883. The drive from Woodside is 62.1 miles, about 82 minutes. Scofield is the nearest town at 12.1 miles, though with a listed population of 33 it's a very small place.

    Facts, map and sources for Colton →

  5. ↓ 18.5 miles, about 32 min

    5. Peerless

    Carbon County, Utah

    Filled-in mine entrance at Peerless, Utah.
    The Raptor You rang?/My mistakes; I mean, er, contributions / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

    From Colton it's 18.5 miles, around half an hour, to Peerless in Carbon County. Founded in 1916, it sits at 6,450 feet. Helper is just 2.8 miles away, with 2,680 residents, and it's listed as the nearest town for the next two stops as well.

    Facts, map and sources for Peerless →

  6. ↓ 0.9 miles, about 4 min

    6. Spring Canyon

    Carbon County, Utah

    A foundation in the ghost town of Spring Canyon, Utah
    The Utahraptor / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Only 0.9 miles and about four minutes on, Spring Canyon is another Carbon County ghost town, founded in 1912. Helper, population 2,680, is 3.4 miles away. No elevation is listed for this one, so we've left that out rather than guess.

    Facts, map and sources for Spring Canyon →

  7. ↓ 1.2 miles, about 5 min

    7. Standardville

    Carbon County, Utah

    The coal storage unit in Standardville, Utah.
    The UtahraptorTalk to me/Contributions / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

    Standardville shares its founding year, 1912, with Spring Canyon, and it's just 1.2 miles and about five minutes beyond it. This Carbon County ghost town lists Helper, 4 miles away and home to 2,680 people, as its nearest town. It's worth checking access locally before you go.

    Facts, map and sources for Standardville →

  8. ↓ 29.5 miles, about 1 hr 4 min

    8. Hiawatha

    Carbon County, Utah

    The ghost town of Hiawatha, Utah
    Tricia Simpson / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Last up, after 29.5 miles and a little over an hour, is Hiawatha. It's described as a ghost town on the Wasatch Plateau, spanning both Carbon and Emery counties, and it was founded in 1911. Huntington, with 2,271 residents, is the nearest town at 11 miles.

    Facts, map and sources for Hiawatha →

Every stop on this route links to its own page with coordinates, sourced facts and image licences. The text above was written from those records and checked against them before publishing. More ghost towns: all ghost towns in Utah.