As we rounded the wide right sweeper, I could see the spoilers on the cars in front of me deploy, indicating the cars were accelerating through 75 mph. In the background, the magnificent red rock formations of southern Utah. Eight other Porsche Boxsters were ahead of me as we accelerated up a short hill, a group of friends old and new out for a 300 plus mile jaunt through southern Utah.

Dawn Saturday, October 14, came with a hard frost. It had snowed the prior day, but Saturday morning was clear and dry. And cold, freezing cold. The nine Boxsters assembled for the inaugural Red Rock Run were covered with frost and the drivers were shrouded in a small cloud, our breath condensing as we reviewed the drive route.

(photo by Michael VanTyne)

That we were together at all is a tribute to the improbable that is possible with the internet. The connection that brought us together was Porsche Pete's Boxster Board (PPBB), the internet hangout for Boxster owners. Karen and I had met Bill and Jane at The Boxsters Have Landed III in Las Vegas in April 2000, where over 100 Boxsters joined the festivities organized for the PPBB community. I met Michael VanTyne on PPBB and offered him a ride in my car because he was considering buying a Boxster S. I hooked up with Mike and Jason to do several informal drives, and Michael became our "official" photographer until his car arrived in August, at which point he became the fifth of the Arctic Silver Boxsters traveling in a pack on weekend sprints through the remote mountain areas around Salt Lake City. Frank and Pat had just moved to Salt Lake from Ohio, just in time to join up with the Intermountain Region PCA autocross crowd and commit to joining the Red Rock Run. Patricia and Bill were on vacation in Utah from the Los Angeles area and decided to swing by and join the fun, Per was finishing up a vacation adventure that started in Oregon, and Dane and Peggy came up from Saint George, Utah to join the crazy characters coming from all over the country to enjoy a few hours driving. Nine cars, nine stories, and just one common chapter.

We gathered in Cedar City, Utah on Friday so we would be ready to go early Saturday. This was about the drive. Southern Utah is a jumble of landscapes, all connected by excellent secondary roads. The season was over the first week of October, the tourists gone and the roads mostly empty. Perfect touring conditions, except for the uncertainty about the snowfall and anxiety about the driving conditions we would encounter along our route.

Leaving Cedar City on Utah State Highway 14, we were immediately winding through red rock terrain with vast stretches of deep green pine forest and stands of white aspen still ringed with a few golden remnants of their autumn glory. With temperatures in the low 30s, everyone had the tops up and heaters running as we climbed a canyon carved over eons by the creek winding beside the road.

We were soon in the vicinity of Cedar Breaks National Monument. Everything around us was covered with the intricate patterns of morning frost, the sun breaking through the ridgeline above us here and there to create dazzling displays of light reflecting off the crystallized grasses and twigs.

Leaving Cedar Breaks, the road opened up into huge meadows covered with the first snow of winter. A vast sea of ice crystals surrounded us, each a miniature prism refracting its own faint, translucent rainbow. The effect was absolutely dazzling, an ever changing lightscape of sparkling, twinkling colors. In the midst of this display, all was silent except for the distinctive Harmany of nine horizontal sixes running at peak rpms, a sound as pure as the twinkling colors around us.

Coming out of the mountains, we picked up US 89 heading north to take us to the main event: Utah State Highway 12. Ranked by Car and Driver as one of the top ten touring highways in the U.S., Highway 12 begins in Red Rock Canyon, a stretch of red rock spires flanked by dark green pine forests. The contrast with the bright red rocks creates a sky so intensely blue it almost hurts to look at it. The road is very narrow through Red Rock Canyon, plus there are many pull offs and people walking back and forth across the road. After a quick stop for a group photo, we moved on to the awesome roads running through Bryce Canyon National Park, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and Capitol Reef National Park, the heart of Highway 12 red rock country.

The southern stretches of Highway 12 are a mix of intermittent twisting turns, stretches of undulating straights running for as much as a couple of miles, and long sweeping turns made for Porsches at the top of their form. Immaculately maintained because of the large number of tourists using the roads during peak season, the roads were deserted as we ran the Boxsters through the gearboxes, keeping the revs high as we moved from sweeper to straight, then downshifting to shred the twisties that took us through the many elevation changes. With little traffic, these roads were ideal for enjoying the wonderful handling attributes of the mid-engined Boxster.

On the Road
(photo by Michael VanTyne)

Not that we were totally alone. I was driving sweep on this trip, and I could see the wide eyes of those passing in the opposite direction, their lips silently mouthing "nine" as they came into view.

Coming through a pass, we pulled off at the Escalante Canyons Overlook, joining several other cars that had stopped to take in the panoramic view. Getting out of my car at the rear of the pack, I was immediately greeted by Ernie, a young man of about 78 from Missouri. He introduced me to his wife, Frannie, and asked me about the cars, horsepower, handling, what were we doing, etc. In the course of our conversation, I discovered Ernie and Frannie were following the same route we were taking. As he was leaving, Ernie chuckled and promised me he would let us pass if he saw us coming up behind him. He and Frannie then got in their Cadillac, fired up the engine, and put down 12 feet of rubber. We never saw them again.

Grand Staircase-Escalante Overlook
(photo by Michael VanTyne)

Heading north from the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument area, Highway 12 changes character. Suddenly, it is a roller coaster ride. Up and down, switching back on itself, then winding in and out of rock formations that alternate between wild pastels and vivid red-oranges. The only thing this stretch of road lacks to qualify as an amusement park ride is a loop over. Driving a Boxster on this road is guaranteed to make anyone a ragtop convert. The feel of the wind, the strange and weird rock formations towering above the car, and the vast expanse of vivid blue sky, this was sensory overload. And do not underestimate the stunning sound of nine horizontal sixes at peak rpms reverberating off the canyon walls. Absolutely intoxicating.

Driving the Slick Rock in Escalante Canyon
(photo by Michael VanTyne)

Nearing Capitol Reef National Park, the road again climbs into areas of dense pine and aspen forest. The cars were in the lower gears, gliding athletically to and fro as they climbed the flank of the mountains. The driving on this stretch of road was much more rhythmic than the chaotic run through the miles of rock formations. We were driving through seemingly unending sequences of esses, the Boxsters flowing over the road like water coursing through a well worn channel.

Cresting the ridgeline, we broke out into a vast open space that seemed to stretch to the ends of the earth, a vista, so the signs said, overlooking an area as large as the state of Connecticut. The Dixie National Forest and Capitol Reef National Park were part of the view, as was part of Grand Staircase-Escalante and much of southeastern Utah. We stopped for pictures, putting the cars in formation with the spectacular backdrop stretching out behind them. We agreed the view was enhanced with our nine Boxsters in the foreground!

Spectacular Overlook South of Boulder
(photo by Michael VanTyne)

Winding down out of the mountains, we headed into Torrey, Utah for lunch. Now five hours and about 200 miles into the drive, our group was splitting up after lunch. A contingent was heading south for Las Vegas, Dane and Peggy are headed to see family in the area, and the rest of us were going up the spine of the Rocky Mountains to Salt Lake City, another four hours of equally spectacular roads and scenery. But we lingered over lunch, talking about the stunning beauty we had seen, the superb roads, and the odd coincidences that brought us together to enjoy this drive.

And before we headed off on separate paths, we agreed this drive was much too spectacular to only do once. We are not sure when, but there will be another Red Rock Run in the near future. We expect a larger group next time, if for no other reason than the Intermountain Region of PCA is going to want to do this tour. But we also know the next time we post our plans on the internet, another set of coincidences will bring even more people along for the drive. Worked out just fine this time, no doubt because these were Porsche people.

Although we can replicate the route, I doubt any of us will ever again see anything quite like the wondrous light refracting off the first snow we drove through at the start of the trip. It was a magical moment on a drive through some of the most stunningly beautiful country in the world. But next time, with luck, we will start the day the way a day should be started in a Boxster: top down!