Cache Valley & Bear Lake

Northern Utah is farm country and mountain valleys: Logan and the Cache Valley, the scenic drive through Logan Canyon to turquoise Bear Lake, and the site where America's first transcontinental railroad was completed.

The Cache Valley is a broad agricultural basin in the far north of the state, centred on Logan, home of Utah State University. The town has a small historic centre and a strong dairy tradition, and the university's Aggie Ice Cream is a local institution. From Logan, the Logan Canyon Scenic Byway follows US-89 east through limestone cliffs and maple and aspen forest, a popular drive in autumn colour season, before cresting the mountains above Bear Lake. The lake, split between Utah and Idaho, is known for its turquoise colour, caused by limestone particles suspended in the water, and its sandy shallows. Garden City on the Utah shore is the summer base, famous for raspberry milkshakes made with local berries, and Bear Lake State Park has beaches and marinas. West of the valley, Brigham City sits at the edge of orchard country along the base of the Wellsville Mountains. Further west, Golden Spike National Historical Park at Promontory Summit marks the place where the Central Pacific and Union Pacific lines met on 10 May 1869, completing the first transcontinental railroad; replica steam locomotives are run on the restored tracks in season. On the north shore of the Great Salt Lake, reached by a long gravel road, Spiral Jetty is Robert Smithson's 1970 earthwork, a coil of basalt rock that appears and disappears with the lake level.