Mars Station

Description: The Mars Research Station is located west of Hanksville, in the middle of a colorful badlands landscape. Basically, this is exactly how you might imagine Mars to look. Here at the station, a wide range of experiments are conducted to simulate life on Mars, which may one day help us actually live there. The station is not open to the public; you can only view it from the road. While it was still possible to drive directly to the station just a few years ago, there are now signs indicating that trespassing is prohibited. There is a small parking lot and a short path from which you can catch a glimpse of the station. Depending on how long you spend on the 5-kilometer drive, we would estimate that the visit takes about an hour.

Our rating: Even though you are no longer allowed to approach the station, we considered the trip here quite interesting. Not only the station, but also the way to it are well worth a detour. The landscape is inhospitable but there are always small interesting hoodoos or other stone formations. The unpaved access road was a bit bumpy during our visit in April 2022, but still easily drivable. As is always the case on dirt roads, having higher ground clearance is a plus.