How to See Utah's Blue Hills

The first place we went on our big Memorial Day Weekend 2022 Utah Road Trip was Hanksville, Utah.

Hanksville is a town on the eastern side of Capitol Reef National Park and home to The Bentonite Hills also known as The Blue Hills of Utah.

These blue hills are mounds of volcanic ash layered on top of themselves formed millions of years ago. These rainbow-colored domes stick out among the barren desert landscape. ​​

We arrived in the very small town right before sunset. Initially, we were going to camp somewhere away from the blue hills, but since it was still light out, we decided to scope a spot and set up camp nearby before it got too late.

Watch the entire video from our two days in the Blue Hills of Utah in my YouTube video below!

We drove the crazy long yet decently maintained dirt road up to what we thought would be our destination. We weren’t completely certain what we were looking for or if we were looking in the “best” area. ​ 

We put The Mars Desert Research Station into our Google Maps and quickly started exploring.

The road up to the hills was a sandy, rocky, dirt road.

We pulled up to the first spot where we noticed the rainbow-colored hills. There was a car there, so we were hesitant to park and kept driving. We did a bit more driving and searching, actually a lot more driving and scoping, before eventually circling back and parking where the only other car was for miles.

We parked on the opposite side of the bentonite formations and quickly grabbed our camera gear and drone. We were in a bit of a hurry to make it up the hills, because  the sun was setting quickly. 

The best place to put into your GPS is the Mars Desert Research Station. CLICK TO SEE!

We arrived during what photographers call “the blue hours”. An hour before sunrise and an hour after sunset, the blue and purple hues appear more intense on these stratified domes. We arrived just in time. We were able to hike up the hills, send our drone out, and scope out the entire landscape before it got too dark. It was an unbelievable sight. 
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The view of the blue hills from our drone.

The next morning, we woke up in the pitch black predawn and got ready to catch the “Blue Hour” before sunrise. As soon as the sun broke over the horizon, we sent up the drone. We didn’t think it was possible after reviewing the footage from the night before, but the sunrise videos were much more colorful!

A different side of the bentonite hills.

We spent as long as we could hiking around, staring out over the horizon, and gawking at the magical landscape laid out in front of us. When the sun actually rose over the horizon, we packed up our gear. The sun really washes out the colors of the blue and purple when the reds and oranges are brought out by the warmth of the sun. ​

We had so much more to keep exploring on our road trip - and his was just our first stop! See more from our entire road trip around Utah in my blog post and videos here.