The St. George and Zion National Park area is filled with some incredibly scenic back-roads and byways. One official definition of a back-road or byway is “a small side road not regularly used by people or traffic.” So with that in mind, let’s take a look at one of the back-roads or byways that you may want to consider exploring.

Grafton Historic School House

Smithsonian Butte
Scenic Byway:

Attractions along this dirt-road include (Town of Rockville, Grafton Ghost Town, Gooseberry Mesa, Smithsonian Butte).

Directions / Things to See and Do:

This road begins/ends in two places; Rockville and Apple Valley. Access in Rockville (from Scenic Highway 9 near Springdale/Zion National Park) is via the “Bridge Road” at the eastern edge of town. Look for a small street sign and turn south on this road.   You’ll know if you are going in the right direction if you immediately cross an old iron bridge across the Virgin River. Follow this road as it curves to the right (west) and toward the ghost town of Grafton (1.5 miles).

Turn right in the fork of the road (2 miles) to visit Grafton Ghost Town. Check out the cemetery (on left) just as you enter the old town. Be sure to read some of the interesting gravestones. 

Grafton Cemetery

The town of Grafton was settled in the 1960’s but up-risings among the local Native Americans forced the people to vacate the town for a few years. Reasons for this are found on the gravestones. Local farmers battled the frequent flooding of the Virgin River before finally giving up on raising crops in this area. There is a school-house and some old homes that still remain. This is the location of the famous bicycle scene in the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, where Butch (Paul Newman) gives Etta (Katherine Ross) a ride on a bicycle and the song “rain-drops keep falling on my head” is sung by B.J. Thomas. Many scenes for this movie (Robert Redford also stars) were shot in this area.

Returning to the main road you were on, you will move south (left at fork - uphill) toward Gooseberry Mesa.   You’ll see Smithsonian Butte (large formation to southeast) as you move up the hill toward Gooseberry Mesa.  The turn-off to get onto the mesa is 4.5 miles (right / west). The road moves back to the north on top of the mesa and there are many look-out points on the northern rim of the mesa. One road follows a northwest course (5 miles) to a look-out area and another road (splits west) and goes to the end of the mesa (approx. 7 miles).  

Mountain Biking on Gooseberry Mesa - Utah

This is famous mountain biking terrain so bring your bikes if that is your As always, be considerate of bikers, hikers or other travelers as you proceed down these dirt roads in your vehicle.

Once you return to the point where you started out onto Gooseberry Mesa you are just 2.75 miles to reach the main highway (SR-59).   Of course you can reverse your course and start here, or even return down the road back to Rockville (Scenic Highway 9).