Dragon Road

Dragon Road is the only way in and out of the famed Dragon Ghost Town. As with many roads and trails in the western United States, they came to exist due to mining. Dragon is no different, but it wasn't gold or silver they were mining; in this case, it was Gilsonite. Gilsonite is a flammable material used in asphalt, inks, paints, and oil-drilling fluids. In the late 1800s, one vein was found in the area that reportedly resembled the look of a dragon, and the name of the new mine became the Black Dragon Mine. The camp associated with the mine was later called "Dragon." The narrow gauge Uintah Railway was built to ship the Gilsonite, and with the ease of access, the camp eventually became the town of Dragon in 1904. It had a school, a hotel, and even a baseball team. Not much remains of the town, and as a matter of fact, many of the residents lived in canvas wall tents because the mine refused to build permanent structures for their workers. The railroad and mine ceased in 1939, and that was it for the town. It became what is now a ghost town with almost nothing that would indicate a town was standing at all.

Besides the town, which you won't see much of, the route to the town and the road are exceptionally scenic. It travels through the high desert, and a good portion will be through vast canyons. The geology of the canyons is fascinating, where horizontal lines in different shades show millions of years of history of how the land was formed. The road does have several sections where soft potato dirt exists, which, when mixed with water, can become extremely mushy and slick.

While there are several locations to pull over and camp, no pre-disturbed locations are along the route.