Flag Point pairs a narrow southern Utah UTV ride with two reasons to stop and explore on foot: fossil dinosaur tracks and Indigenous rock art. The destination is east of Kanab in the Grand Staircase–Escalante country, but the last stretch is a tight, winding backcountry route. Plan the ride around the trail’s width and current conditions, then leave the machine at the parking area to view the site.
Riding to Flag Point
Kanab makes a convenient base for this ride. The original trip approached Flag Point through the Johnson Canyon area and found sandy stretches, rock, curves and little room for a full-size vehicle near the destination. This is a route to research before departure rather than a place to follow a generic pin blindly. Check the current BLM travel map and road conditions, confirm that every segment of your planned route is open to your vehicle, and download an offline map before losing service. The BLM Kanab Visitor Center can help with current local information.
Bring water, a spare tire or repair kit, basic recovery gear and enough fuel for a remote out-and-back ride. Turn around if weather, mud, a washout or the available trail width exceeds your vehicle or group. For more routes to build into a Kanab trip, see our Kanab UTV trail guide and ride east of Coral Pink Sand Dunes.
Finding the Dinosaur Tracks
From the parking area, explore on foot and look carefully at the exposed sandstone. The three-toed impressions are easy to miss if you expect signs or a developed interpretive trail. Their shape records the passage of dinosaurs through a landscape very different from today’s high desert. View and photograph the prints from beside them; avoid walking on the fossil surfaces, making casts or disturbing the rock.
Viewing the Pictographs
There is also rock art near the tracks. Pictographs are painted onto stone, whereas petroglyphs are pecked or carved into it. The images deserve the same care as the fossils: keep your hands off the panel, do not wet or chalk it for a photo, and leave artifacts where they are.
Before You Go
- Vehicle: A narrow ATV or UTV is better suited to the tight final section. Do not assume a full-size 4×4 will fit comfortably.
- Navigation: Download your map, check the current BLM route designation and carry a backup. A mapped line is not proof that a route is open.
- Weather: Spring and fall are generally more comfortable. Summer heat and rain can change a remote desert ride quickly.
- Site care: Stay on designated motorized routes, park on an existing disturbed area and walk to the tracks and rock art. Do not touch, mark or remove anything.
Flag Point is a memorable Kanab-area ride because the trail leads to a place where natural and human history sit close together. Give yourself time to explore carefully, and leave the site as you found it for the next visitors.
