Travel-Curious

Travel Curious

For independent travelers who want to dig deeper

Carl's Critter Garden

A stop in Hanksville Utah to visit the eclectic and amazing Carl’s Critter Garden

 
The sign for Carl's Critter Garden in Hanksville Utah
 
Carl was a local fellow who fell in love with collecting ‘junk’ and over a decade, turned it into thoughtful roadside art. Carl is gone now, but his garden lives on.
 
The two big themes you will notice quickly are dinosaurs and peace.
 
The namaste shack
 
The earth fashioned out of found objects in Carl's free Critter Garden
 
Take your time and look around, soak in this art oasis in the desert. The Critter Garden is a paradise filled with dinosaur sculptures, glass beads, recycled machinery, antique objects, and much more all lovingly handcrafted into a free sculpture garden with witty sayings and deep thoughts to keep you occupied for a time in this small town.
 

The Critter Gardens sits right next to the main highway through Hanksville

 

While the garden is free to explore there is a donation box to fund the upkeep of the critter garden.

 

Randy's Triceratops made creatively from an old car hood

 

One of my favorite pieces is the Hanksville Love Bus, complete with glass beads sitting atop its found art ironwork pedestal.

 

The hanksville love bus

 

Spend some time reading Hank’s verbose and humorous explanations and deep thoughts, afterall, how many times do you get a chance to be at the center of the universe?

 

Explore Nearby...

Hikes...

Leprechaun Canyon – Hike

A short and fun hike in a non-technical slot canyon with corkscrew narrows, beautiful high-colored walled sections and a final narrow section with just a crack of light that will shine down from above.

Arsenic Arch Utah

Arsenic Arch

A little-known, rarely visited arch you can have all to yourself is hidden inside Poison Spring Canyon.

Hog Springs Utah

Hog Spring – Hike

Hog Springs is a nice rest stop and picnic area next to the highway with a short scenic hike that takes you to a spring-fed pool and the Cleopatra rock art panel is also close by

Scenic Drives...

Hite Crossing Bridge

The bridge marks the upstream limit of Lake Powell and is the only bridge spanning the Colorado River between the bridge 110 miles upstream in Moab and the Glen Canyon Bridge, 185 miles downstream.

Burr point overlooks Utah

Burr Point Overlook

A dirt road runs across the Burr Desert flat lands and takes you to a few clifftop overlooks of the Dirty Devil River, with views across the canyons.

Kathline Rock

Just a quick place to stop along highway 95, there are viewing tubes that are labeled and sight some of the specific surrounding scenery.

Everything Else...

Little Egypt Utah

Little Egypt

A much smaller and less visited version of Goblin Valley State Park, but free and always open

Carl’s Critter Garden

It is worth stopping by this free roadside attraction to see how Carl lovingly turned glass beads, recycled machinery, antique objects, and much more into an art installation

Hollow Mountain

This gas station took 100 cases of dynamite to hollow out the space for the convenience store and has been a tourist attraction ever since.

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