Location: Price
Top Things to do in Price
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Top 10 Things to do in Price, United States
Price is a city in Carbon County, Utah, United States. The city is home to Utah State University Eastern, as well as the USU Eastern Prehistoric Museum. Price is located within short distances of both Nine Mile Canyon and the Manti-La Sal National Forest. Price is noted as a mining town, as well as for its history as a religious and ethnically diverse community, very atypical for Utah. Greek, Italian, eastern European, Mexican, Japanese and many other ethnic groups made up the population of the city and surrounding towns and communities. There has historically been a wide range of religions present in these areas, including Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Protestant and Mormon.
Restaurants in Price
1. Utah State University Eastern Prehistoric Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 124 reviews
This museum has a Hall of Archaeology, and a Hall of Paleontology as well as a delightful Discovery Area where children can dig for dinosaur bones , play in a pithouse or choose from many games, puppets and printed materials. The museum's Observation Labs enable the visitor to view the "behind the scenes" processes and speak one-on-one with a preparator. LIVE feedings of the museum "critters", an alligator, soft-shelled turtle and a monitor lizard takes place every Friday promptly at 4:00 pm. (General admission fees apply).
Reviewed By Steve C - Annapolis, Maryland
The museum, a large ornate building with snarling dinosaurs and Indian sculptures outside, was hard to miss.
On-street parking was free, but they charged us $10 per person to get in. It was well worth it.
They had two floors with archaeology on the right side of the museum and two floors covering paleontology on the left.
The archaeology section featured: fascinating exhibits and dioramas showing prehistoric life through a multitude of artifacts; Paleoindian migration panels; a pack rat midden from Dutch John that showed how the climate had changed over millennia; a mockup of the Archaic dwelling at Polar Mesa dating back to BC 2040; an amazing replica of a Fremont pithouse; medicinal and edible plants; a hide teepee; a Kennewick Man skull from a middle-aged guy who died 9,500 years ago; a very rare mud granary found on the Wilcox Ranch in Range Creek, Utah; a model of Hovenweep Castle; the “Vision of Washakie” elk skin painting by the Shoshone Chief Charlie Washakie; relics from daily life, like baskets and sandals; weapons like bows and arrows; a very interesting display showing the time sequence for projectile points, starting with a Clovis Point dating from BC 12,000; and realistic paintings made to look exactly like the Great Gallery rock art panel in Horseshoe Canyon.
The paleontology section was equally intriguing with real and imagined turtles; the steel trap Dunkleoteus that possessed the most powerful bite of any fish ever known; the armadillo-like, super-sized Glyptodons with their body armor and stone tails with sharp spikes; big-foot, duck-billed Hadrosaurs that lived along the western coast of the Cretaceous Seaway (where Utah sits today) and whose massive footprints were found deep in the coal mines of Carbon County, giant clams, snails, and oysters; a huge assortment of dinosaur eggs; a host of different spike-horned and armored Ceratops; the monstrous Deinosuchus, known as the “Crocodile King of Utah”, which was not related to crocodiles or alligators; armored grass eaters like Ankylosaurs; a giant blue sea scorpion that roamed the ancient seas 450 million years ago; a thirty-feet-long behemoth Alisaurus meat eater that terrorized what is now Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument 72 million years ago; and, of course, the razor-clawed Utahraptor, a velociraptor like the pack of gangbangers that brought mayhem and carnage in the movie “Jurassic Park”.
They also had some great exhibits about the 1927 excavation of the Cleveland-Lloyd Quarry; the science of paleontology; how the earth and Eastern Utah was formed; and twisted geology.
The coolest thing about the museum was that whether it was an old Indian pot or a dinosaur they were showcasing, most were discovered in Utah
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2. Cleveland - Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry
Overall Ratings
4 based on 33 reviews
Reviewed By hedleyk - herts,uk
There is a small museum at the entrance to the quarry containing a history of the site and several models including one large one.The recent diggings are inside sheds about 250 yds down along the site and while one is locked the other one contains models of skeleton pieces which are placed in the exact location they were found in minus all of the surrounding .stone. This was an interesting visit and free entry with a national parks annual card- otherwise $5. It is difficult to believe that many of the worlds museums have been supplied with full dinosaur specimens representing 10 or more different species.from this single site. The place is some miles into the desert on suv only type of tracks and while signs going in will get you there signs going out again are not so helpful - a good mental compass is essential.
3. Eastern Utah Tourism & History Association
Overall Ratings
5 based on 4 reviews
The Eastern Utah Tourism and History Association (EUTHA) operates a Visitor Information and Interpretive Center complete with an educational bookstore featuring local and regional books, guidebooks, maps, rocks, t-shirts and gifts. EUTHA has written three books on the history of the area. EUTHA also offers educational and ghost tours of local areas with knowledgeable, costumed tour guides.
Reviewed By NM_Dreamer - Cambridge, MA
We stopped in looking for information about Nine Mile Canyon. The folks here were unbelievably helpful, pointing out a number of places in the canyon that most visitors miss. (Thanks, guys...we found them, and wow!!) They have an excellent selection of books on local history...MoreThank you so much for your review! I'm so glad that you enjoyed your experience in Nine Mile Canyon and that you found the additional sites we pointed out. We look forward to welcoming you back to our area again soon!
4. Desert Wave Pool
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 7 reviews
Reviewed By Michael B - Salt Lake City, Utah
The indoor pool seems older but well kept. Water was heated but at a lap swimming cooler temperature. They have a small climbing wall attached to the side which is fun for the kids. The locker rooms are older and mostly maintained.
Where this place really shines is it's outdoor wave pool. Tubes are cheap and sized for adults or kids. You also get a refund when you return them. Lots of chairs for those looking to tan. The waves come on every ten minutes. People think that heading to the deepest part of the pool is the best for high waves, but I recommend the sides closer to shore. My kids had a blast. There are water guns on the side to blast unsuspecting swimmers.
I highly recommend this place.
5. Carbon County Event Center
Overall Ratings
5 based on 2 reviews
Reviewed By Bigredmachine
The Carbon County Events Center is located at the fairgrounds in Price, Utah and has the capabilities to host large scale conferences, banquets, expositions, music performances, and trade shows. There is a large parking lot just to the north of the events center so parking is usually plentiful for events here.
6. Luke's Trail
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 3 reviews
Reviewed By Richard M - Utah
Beginner to Intermediate riding, a constantly twisting attention absorbing fantastically fun ride including great scenic views. If you like mountain biking you should love this trail. Slightly uphill and harder as you go but still worth even family riding on the lower sections. Twists through pinion pines along the edges of a plateau overlooking Price, Utah. Two hours would do for a quick up and back, but adding side loops of equal quality can make more of a 3-5 hour day of more than enough riding.
7. The Wedge
Overall Ratings
5 based on 1 reviews
Reviewed By Steve C - Annapolis, Maryland
We drove south from Price, Utah on UT 10 to the little farming village of Cleveland, Utah and headed east on Center Street which quickly turned to gravel when we left town. The drive to The Wedge turned out to be a piece of cake. At every big intersection there was either a wooden BLM sign with the mileage to The Wedge, or, when in doubt, we just stayed on the main dirt road. It took us about forty-five minutes to get to our destination and there was only one van of campers lounging in the shade of the bushy Juniper trees in a primitive camping spot near the rim.
The views from The Wedge Overlook were breathtaking. We stood on a the edge of what is referred to as the “Little Grand Canyon” looking down into a world of multi-colored, tortured redrock. It was like a layer cake that had been sliced by God with a really big knife. Way down in the canyon bottom ran the twisting ribbon of water known as the San Rafael River.
Jimmy and I decided to go for a several-mile walk along the rim to the end of the plateau that resembled the flight deck of an aircraft carrier in the clouds. There was no sign of human ANYTHING as far as the eye could see. And the silence was all encompassing. We felt like the only people on the earth.
After a few hours scoping out the stunning views and talking to the local ravens, we retraced our drive back to the Buckhorn Well Rest Area at a major intersection of dirt roads with bathrooms and about fifty flashy color panels inviting us to visit many local attractions around spectacular Utah – even places like Zion National Park that was like a million miles away.
We used the clean compost toilet, checked out the old Buckhorn Well water pump exhibit, and Jimmy posed in front of a metal art installation standing off in the sagebrush flat that depicted a string of pack horses heading to god only knows where.
We never saw another car or person the whole time we were there. And it was hard to understand why the state or the county had built such and expansive (and expensive) rest stop and picnic area in what was by any standard the absolute middle of nowhere. I guess hope springs eternal.
The Buckhorn Draw Road (County Road 322) quickly began dropping into a magnificent gorge. We were essentially through the canyon we had been gazing into from the rim of the Wedge. The road followed the bone dry Buckhorn Wash, twisting like a bobsled run, the red and brown sandstone walls closing in on us the deeper we went.
And I can say without hesitation that Buckhorn Draw rivaled any national park I have ever seen other than the Grand Canyon. It was stunningly majestic.
And we never saw another soul the whole drive.
About six miles from the Buckhorn Well Rest Area, we came to the football field long Buckhorn Wash Petroglyph Panel where the weirdly cool rock art figures had been pecked and painted over the course of millennia by a host of Anasazi artists. There were two distinct cultures and art forms at work across the shiny brown face of the smooth Wingate Sandstone walls.
People of the Fremont Culture had used small stones to chisel their symbolic drawings of bighorn sheep and spiders about a thousand years ago. But most of the panel was comprised of pictographs that had been painted by artists of the Barrier Canyon Culture onto their rock canvas more than 2000 years ago. These drawings were like something from an acid flashback, space men and spirits, some with large holes where their hearts or crotches should be. What the hell were these boys and girls trying to say? Their meaning remains a mystery.
The Buckhorn Draw Road continued to wind ever deeper as we passed through Furniture Draw and Calf Canyon. And we stopped several times to just get out and spin circles in the road, completely in awe of the colossal beauty towering around us. We were but tiny specks in this giant world of redrock buttes.
About five miles from the rock art site we came to the historic San Rafael River Bridge which had been erected by the Civilian Conservation Corps between 1935 and 1937 under the direction of the Division of Grazing. It is the last remaining suspension bridge in Utah.
At the dedication ceremony, the Utah Governor Henry H. Blood, was joined by 2,000 people, and the local paper heralded: “Mystery lands now opened.”
The wooden and steel-cable bridge was constructed to give the local ranchers a safe way to get their cattle and sheep across the often treacherous San Rafael River. The 167-feet-long bridge opened up thousands of acres of land for winter grazing.
We were pleasantly surprised to find out that grazing permits had been discontinued in order to maintain a healthy desert bighorn sheep population that were there long before the cows.
We parked by the bridge and walked around. There was a Mormon church group of teenagers frolicking in the muddy river. We were hot and the water would have definitely felt good and cooled us off, but when we dried, we would have felt like mud monsters. So, after a few minutes, we returned to the comfort our air conditioned SUV.
I was still unclear about how we were going to get from the Buckhorn Draw Road onto I-70. And the Google Earth map I had looked at before the trip had shown a zillion other dirt roads in the area, and no obvious way out other than what appeared to be a large corrugated metal pipe under the interstate. I was really hoping that we wouldn’t have to backtrack all the way to Cleveland where we had started the day. I concentrated on the road and tried not to think about it.
We drove slowly through a moonscape land devoid of trees, bushes, or any sign of humans other than the little dirt road we were following blindly, and after about twenty miles we came to the Temple Mountain Road and Exit 131 off I-70.
Jimmy and I both began howling with relief and joy.
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8. Coal Miner's Memorial
Overall Ratings
5 based on 1 reviews
Reviewed By Bigredmachine
Located on the corner of 1st east and Main (Center) Street, the Coal Miners Memorial honors workers from the local coal mine industry. The memorial consists of bronze plaques on granite bases listing the names miners killed in Carbon County mines since the late 1800's.
9. Desert Wings
Overall Ratings
5 based on 1 reviews
Reviewed By Bigredmachine
The Desert Wings Flying Field, built by Carbon County and maintained by the Desert Wings RC Club, is located near the County Fairgrounds in Price, Utah. The facility includes a 600 feet long by X 85 feet wide runway, covered and uncovered pit areas with benches, and electrical power. The runway is plowed in the winter and can be flown nearly year round.
The facilities can accommodate small electric park size aircraft to 1/3 scale gas planes.
10. Assumption Church Greek Orthodox Church
Overall Ratings
5 based on 1 reviews
Reviewed By Bigredmachine
Founded in 1916 by Greek miners and shepherds, the Greek Orthodox Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Price, Utah, is one of the oldest Greek Orthodox parishes in America. The church, with its Byzantine architecture, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was the 13th Greek Orthodox Church to be built in the United States. The church remains active with services at 10:00 am every Sunday.
Also, every year around the middle of July, the church holds Greek Festival Days where you can experience Greek food, music, dancing and take a tour of the church.
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