San Rafael Swell, also known as San Rafael Country, is an outdoor adventure loaded with color and contrast with majestic mountain peaks; great for summer hiking and winter snow shoeing and skiing adventures. Beautiful desert badlands full of surprises such as: wild horses and wild burros, both survivors of the Old Spanish Trail. Hundreds of Native Americanrock art panels, many images thousands of years old. As well as thousands of dinosaur fossils, dated over one hundred million years old. Graceful winding canyon gorges twisting a thousand feet below you. There is even an area locally referred to as “The Little Grand Canyon”. The awe inspiring mesas and arches towering thousands of feet above you are a photographer’s dream. You may even see herds of Pronghorn Antelope (survivors of the Ice Ages and North America’s fastest land animal). Enjoy spacious wilderness where you and your family can experience quiet and solitude. We maintain accommodating roads to allow for the extreme adventurer as well as the more conservative comfort seeking traveler. There is truly something for everyone in this hidden mountainous desert wonderland: golfing, hiking, biking, kayaking, canyoneering, camping, lodging, fishing, boating, rafting, bouldering, geocaching, OHVing, cross country skiing, snowmobile, 4x4, rock hounding, horseback riding, hunting and so much more. This includes scenic auto touring, which we will help you navigate with the detailed map included in this guide.
San Rafael Country is also blessed with landscapes of vast scenic variety, friendly locals, affordable lodging, hundreds of campsites, and NO CROWDS. We are confident you will enjoy a superior vacation experience. Sure, you may see other people. In fact, you might even see a few dozen vehicles during peak seasons. It is “Nature in the Raw”. It is experiencing the back country of Utah, before the rest of the world discovers it.... Would you like to discover a vacation experience that is getting harder and harder to find? Then get of the beaten path. That is where you will find the roads less traveled.