Planning Your Visit
From mountain peaks to sun-swept deserts, Castle Country has it all. Castle Country is located in Southeastern Utah and includes activities & sites from Carbon and Emery Counties. Castle Country is a land as diverse as its people.
Castle Country is home to the San Rafael Swell, Nine Mile Canyon, Goblin Valley, Scofield, Huntington, and Millsite State Parks, and the Manti LaSal National Forest. You can hike, bike, ATV, 4-wheel, camp, fish, and hunt in our mountains and deserts. You'll also find dinosaur sites, museums, ancient Native American rock art, railroad and mining history, ghost towns, winter activities and year round events at our state of the art facilities.
Helper is located along U.S. Route 6/U.S. Route 191, a shortcut between Provo and Interstate 70, on the way from Salt Lake City to Grand Junction, Colorado. The city has a rich history as a railroad and railyard town, and later as a coal mining town. Many immigrants from Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia, Japan, Slovenia, and China settled in the area to mine coal and search for the American Dream. Today the historic Main Street and The Western Mining and Railroad Museum provide a trip back in time to the beginnings of Helper and the hard-working people who formed its character.
Helper Saturday Vibes
Helper Saturday Vibes is a festive outdoor market where family and friends can shop local artists, enjoy live music, learn about
local nonprofits, sample a variety of food trucks, peruse the classic car parking, and bounce around the kids’ activities—all on
Helper’s Historic Main Street! Helper Saturday Vibes happens every 2nd and 4th Saturday from May through September.
Helper First Fridays
Helper First Fridays is a monthly event that features a different theme each month. Businesses and galleries open their doors, local vendors offer up their goods, and it features theme related activities, music and dancing.
Helper Western Mining and Railroad Museum
The Western Mining and Railroad Museum is located on the south end of Main Street in Helper, named so because of the engines required to help the trains climb the steep grades to Soldier Summit. The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad established the town when the railroad came through the area and coal, that was needed to fuel the steam engines, was found. By 1891 the depot, roundhouse and a hotel were built and the town was beginning. As more coal mines were opened it became the railroad center and the "hub" for coal miners and their families from the many mining camps. The camps were full of European and Asian immigrants and some of them came into Helper to build the town. This is the story told by the Western Mining and Railroad Museum. The museum is housed in the Old Helper Hotel building, built in 1913 - 1914.
The Helper Arts, Music, and Film Festival
The Helper Arts, Music and Film Festival has a rich history of twenty plus years bringing the arts to not only Helper, but surrounding areas as well. The Festival’s mission is to encourage art and culture in Carbon County, support the local artist community, stimulate and enrich the local economy through the arts, and to educate and give access to art for everyone, regardless of income level or art experience. The Festival endeavors to not only put on a great Festival, but to bring the arts to the community throughout the year as much as possible.
The Prehistoric Museum, USU Eastern
Located in downtown Price, Utah this museum offers the visitor extensive exhibits in paleontology, archaeology, and geology. The museum hosts a number of full body dinosaur mounts, including the Utahraptor, the Allosaurus, and the largest mounted ankylosaur skeleton, Peloroplites. Visitors love viewing real dinosaur bone throughout this hall. In the Hall of Archaeology you will find the world-renowned Pilling Figurines, some of the most pristine and ornate examples of clay Fremont figurines in existence. You will also see basketry, pottery, hunting implements, stone tools, and skeletons of several Ice Age mammals. For the little ones, there is a Discovery Area which has a delightful dinosaur “dig”, child-sized pithouse, and other hands-on activities. The museum art gallery hosts several art exhibitions per year. The Prehistoric Museum is your one-stop destination to discover eastern Utah’s prehistory.
Nine Mile Canyon
Nine Mile Canyon is an outdoor museum with remarkable examples of Native American rock art and remnants of dwellings. The area contains the greatest concentration of rock art in the United States. Nine Mile Canyon's rock art has been featured in National Geographic and many other publications because of its beauty and intensity. Over 1,000 sites have been catalogued to date. Large panels of rock art can be found just a few feet from the road. This untouched wilderness allows travelers to see the rock art created centuries ago in the setting that it was created. The varied styles of rock art and evidence discovered by archeologists show that this canyon has been home to Native American Indians for thousands of years.
The San Rafael Swell
The San Rafael Swell is Utah's fastest growing tourist destination. Most of this huge area is open to the public and adventures are left only to the visitor's imagination. The Swell is 2,000 square miles of public land, known for its scenic sandstone formations, deep canyons, desert streams, and expansive panoramas. The Swell is a massive maze of winding canyons, broken fins and buttes in the heart of Utah.
Goblin Valley State Park
Goblin Valley State Park is famous for its large collections of fancifully shaped rock formations. All of these unique and enchanting rock sculptures have been carved by centuries of abrasion by wind and water.
The Goblin Valley 3,654 -acre park, filled with hundreds of geologic wonders, is open to the public. Hikers can spend a few hours or an entire day wandering through the goblins and urchins. It is easy to imagine the antics of these chocolate goblins amid balanced rocks, spires and pedestals. Towering over the valley is a contrastingly white peak called Temple Mountain.
The Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry
The Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry contains the densest concentration of Jurassic bones ever found and Earth's largest collections of Allosaurs. The quarry astonishes - and delights - visitors with its irresistible combination of dinosaur bones, interesting geology, and colorful desert scenery. It is located on Bureau of Land Management (BLM)-managed public lands at the end of 13 miles of winding gravel road. Visitor center volunteers and BLM staffers make every effort to create an unforgettable experience for the 5,000 visitors who come to the quarry each year.
From mountain peaks to sun-swept deserts, Castle Country has it all. Castle Country is located in Southeastern Utah and includes activities & sites from Carbon and Emery Counties. Castle Country is a land as diverse as its people.
Castle Country is home to the San Rafael Swell, Nine Mile Canyon, Goblin Valley, Scofield, Huntington, and Millsite State Parks, and the Manti LaSal National Forest. You can hike, bike, ATV, 4-wheel, camp, fish, and hunt in our mountains and deserts. You'll also find dinosaur sites, museums, ancient Native American rock art, railroad and mining history, ghost towns, winter activities and year round events at our state of the art facilities.
Helper is located along U.S. Route 6/U.S. Route 191, a shortcut between Provo and Interstate 70, on the way from Salt Lake City to Grand Junction, Colorado. The city has a rich history as a railroad and railyard town, and later as a coal mining town. Many immigrants from Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia, Japan, Slovenia, and China settled in the area to mine coal and search for the American Dream. Today the historic Main Street and The Western Mining and Railroad Museum provide a trip back in time to the beginnings of Helper and the hard-working people who formed its character.
Helper Saturday Vibes
Helper Saturday Vibes is a festive outdoor market where family and friends can shop local artists, enjoy live music, learn about
local nonprofits, sample a variety of food trucks, peruse the classic car parking, and bounce around the kids’ activities—all on
Helper’s Historic Main Street! Helper Saturday Vibes happens every 2nd and 4th Saturday from May through September.
Helper First Fridays
Helper First Fridays is a monthly event that features a different theme each month. Businesses and galleries open their doors, local vendors offer up their goods, and it features theme related activities, music and dancing.
Helper Western Mining and Railroad Museum
The Western Mining and Railroad Museum is located on the south end of Main Street in Helper, named so because of the engines required to help the trains climb the steep grades to Soldier Summit. The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad established the town when the railroad came through the area and coal, that was needed to fuel the steam engines, was found. By 1891 the depot, roundhouse and a hotel were built and the town was beginning. As more coal mines were opened it became the railroad center and the "hub" for coal miners and their families from the many mining camps. The camps were full of European and Asian immigrants and some of them came into Helper to build the town. This is the story told by the Western Mining and Railroad Museum. The museum is housed in the Old Helper Hotel building, built in 1913 - 1914.
The Helper Arts, Music, and Film Festival
The Helper Arts, Music and Film Festival has a rich history of twenty plus years bringing the arts to not only Helper, but surrounding areas as well. The Festival’s mission is to encourage art and culture in Carbon County, support the local artist community, stimulate and enrich the local economy through the arts, and to educate and give access to art for everyone, regardless of income level or art experience. The Festival endeavors to not only put on a great Festival, but to bring the arts to the community throughout the year as much as possible.
The Prehistoric Museum, USU Eastern
Located in downtown Price, Utah this museum offers the visitor extensive exhibits in paleontology, archaeology, and geology. The museum hosts a number of full body dinosaur mounts, including the Utahraptor, the Allosaurus, and the largest mounted ankylosaur skeleton, Peloroplites. Visitors love viewing real dinosaur bone throughout this hall. In the Hall of Archaeology you will find the world-renowned Pilling Figurines, some of the most pristine and ornate examples of clay Fremont figurines in existence. You will also see basketry, pottery, hunting implements, stone tools, and skeletons of several Ice Age mammals. For the little ones, there is a Discovery Area which has a delightful dinosaur “dig”, child-sized pithouse, and other hands-on activities. The museum art gallery hosts several art exhibitions per year. The Prehistoric Museum is your one-stop destination to discover eastern Utah’s prehistory.
Nine Mile Canyon
Nine Mile Canyon is an outdoor museum with remarkable examples of Native American rock art and remnants of dwellings. The area contains the greatest concentration of rock art in the United States. Nine Mile Canyon's rock art has been featured in National Geographic and many other publications because of its beauty and intensity. Over 1,000 sites have been catalogued to date. Large panels of rock art can be found just a few feet from the road. This untouched wilderness allows travelers to see the rock art created centuries ago in the setting that it was created. The varied styles of rock art and evidence discovered by archeologists show that this canyon has been home to Native American Indians for thousands of years.
The San Rafael Swell
The San Rafael Swell is Utah's fastest growing tourist destination. Most of this huge area is open to the public and adventures are left only to the visitor's imagination. The Swell is 2,000 square miles of public land, known for its scenic sandstone formations, deep canyons, desert streams, and expansive panoramas. The Swell is a massive maze of winding canyons, broken fins and buttes in the heart of Utah.
Goblin Valley State Park
Goblin Valley State Park is famous for its large collections of fancifully shaped rock formations. All of these unique and enchanting rock sculptures have been carved by centuries of abrasion by wind and water.
The Goblin Valley 3,654 -acre park, filled with hundreds of geologic wonders, is open to the public. Hikers can spend a few hours or an entire day wandering through the goblins and urchins. It is easy to imagine the antics of these chocolate goblins amid balanced rocks, spires and pedestals. Towering over the valley is a contrastingly white peak called Temple Mountain.
The Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry
The Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry contains the densest concentration of Jurassic bones ever found and Earth's largest collections of Allosaurs. The quarry astonishes - and delights - visitors with its irresistible combination of dinosaur bones, interesting geology, and colorful desert scenery. It is located on Bureau of Land Management (BLM)-managed public lands at the end of 13 miles of winding gravel road. Visitor center volunteers and BLM staffers make every effort to create an unforgettable experience for the 5,000 visitors who come to the quarry each year.