This Remote Utah Overlook Looks More Like Mars Than Earth

Moonscape Overlook is one of those unforgettable panoramas in southern Utah, the kind that takes your breath away with just how spectacular and unique Mother Nature can be.

It’s a delightful little spot to discover, and while it’s certainly not totally unknown, there are far fewer visitors than the nearby national parks.

Let’s discuss how to get here, what it’s like, and a few tips for visiting.

How to Get to Moonscape Overlook

Moonscape Overlook is located near Hanksville, Utah, about an hour east of Capitol Reef National Park or an hour south of Goblin Valley State Park, on BLM land within the Factory Butte Recreation Area.

The drive out from Capitol Reef along Highway 24 is really beautiful and feels almost like an “introduction” to the overlook. Much of the drive is through hills and canyons that start to look a lot like what you’ll see out at Factory Butte and Moonscape.

Whether you’re coming from the west or east, you’ll almost certainly be coming in via Highway 24. From the highway, you’ll turn onto North Factory Butte Road and follow it north to Factory Butte, a massive, isolated rock formation that rises straight out of the flat desert, with deeply ridged slopes and sharp vertical lines running down from the top. You’ll drive right towards and then past it – it’s impossible to miss and a really beautiful monolith.

North Factory Butte Road is gravel and pretty washboarded, but it should be fine for just about any car in dry conditions. We’ve found that with roads like this, it actually feels smoother if you don’t go too slow. Around 30 mph worked well for us for a lot of the road and let us skim over the top of the washboard.

After about 6 miles, you’ll take a right onto Skyline View Road and follow it 2.5 miles out to the overlook at the end of the road. The turn onto Skyline is easy to miss since it’s unmarked, except for a small cairn, so you should be paying close attention to your map.

Skyline View Road is definitely rougher. The road gets noticeably more rugged the farther you go, and we had to navigate around a lot of bumps and holes. We drove it in a mid-size SUV and took it slow, around 15 mph, and it was fine. You could probably make it in a lower-clearance vehicle, but you’d need to go slower and be even more careful.

I personally would not attempt this drive in wet conditions unless you have an actual off-roading vehicle.

Navigation: There’s no service out here, so make sure you have offline maps downloaded ahead of time. Moonscape Overlook doesn’t come up for us on Google Maps, so we navigated to 1, Moon Overlook Road. You’ll know you’re there when you hit a larger, obvious parking area.

What Moonscape Overlook Is Like

Moonscape Overlook is very aptly named – it really does feel like something out of this world.

You’re standing on the edge of a stark cliff where the land drops off quickly below you. The flat-top rim curves around the basin below, giving you wide, open views across the landscape. Below, soft, eroded hills ripple out in every direction. The terrain is mostly gray and tan, with thin lines, ridges, and grooves carved across the surface.

And while this view above is the most famous and photographed, the mesa top curves around significantly, giving you sweeping panoramic views and lots of different angles.

You can walk freely along the edge, and it’s a fun area to explore. There are lots of layers and little shelves along the rim to scramble between, you can walk around and find the best vantage points.

A Few Tips

Sunset: We got here about an hour before sunset, and the lighting was really nice. The lower angle of the sun brings out more texture in the hills and makes the whole area look more defined. I’d definitely recommend going at this time of day if you can.

Drones: Drones are allowed here.

Photo Spot: If you’ve seen photos or videos of Moonscape online, you’ve probably seen people standing out on this narrow point just off the edge of the cliff (the photo above). It does make for a great photo, but it’s not easy to get to. The path is narrow, sandy and soft, and has steep drop-offs on both sides. Even my very confident brother (the only one in our party who decided to go out) said it felt pretty treacherous. If you decide to go out there, be very careful.

Timing: We ended up spending around 45 minutes at the overlook. It gave us enough time to walk around the rim, check out different viewpoints, take tons of photos, and just hang out for a bit.

Final Thoughts

Moonscape Overlook is a beautiful and unique viewpoint in this part of Utah. If you’re already exploring Capitol Reef, Goblin Valley, or the nearby Bentonite Hills, it’s well worth the extra effort to get here.