Utah State Map

Geography of Utah

Three large physical provinces meet in Utah: the Basin and Range to the west, the Rocky Mountains in the north and northeast, and the Colorado Plateau across the south and east. The Wasatch Range, running north to south through the middle of the state, separates the desert basins from the high country.

The Wasatch Front

A narrow strip of valleys at the western foot of the Wasatch Range holds most of Utah’s people. It runs from Ogden and Layton through Salt Lake City and its suburbs to Provo and Orem in Utah Valley. Logan, in Cache Valley near the Idaho line, sits just north of it.

Great Salt Lake and the West Desert

• Great Salt Lake: the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere, a remnant of Ice Age Lake Bonneville. It has no outlet, and its size changes with rainfall and water use.
• Bonneville Salt Flats: a hard, flat salt crust west of the lake near Wendover, on the Nevada line.
• Great Basin: dry valleys and isolated mountain ranges covering western Utah, with very few towns.

Uinta Mountains

The Uintas are one of the few major ranges in the US that run east to west. They hold Kings Peak, Utah’s highest point, and separate the Wasatch Front from the Uinta Basin around Vernal.

Colorado Plateau and the national parks

Red-rock canyons cover southern and eastern Utah, drained by the Colorado and Green rivers. The state has five national parks, all on the plateau:

• Arches and Canyonlands: near Moab in the east.
• Capitol Reef: in south-central Utah along the Waterpocket Fold.
• Bryce Canyon: hoodoo formations on the edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau.
• Zion: a deep sandstone canyon near St. George and Springdale.

Lake Powell, a reservoir on the Colorado River, straddles the Arizona border inside Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The Four Corners Monument, in the southeast corner, lies on Navajo Nation land.

Major highways

• I-15: the main north–south route, from Arizona through St. George, Cedar City, Provo, Salt Lake City and Ogden to Idaho.
• I-80: east–west from Wendover across the Bonneville Salt Flats to Salt Lake City, then through Parleys Canyon and Park City into Wyoming.
• I-84: from Idaho through Tremonton to Ogden, then through Weber Canyon to join I-80 at Echo.
• I-70: begins at I-15 near Cove Fort and crosses the San Rafael Swell to Green River and Colorado; long stretches have no services.
• I-215: a belt route around the Salt Lake Valley.
• US 89, US 191 and US 6: US 89 links Logan, the Wasatch Front, Kanab and the southern parks; US 191 runs through Vernal, Moab and Blanding; US 6 connects Spanish Fork, Price and Green River.