Sevier, Utah - Big Rock Candy Mountain

We tried to find this just a couple of days ago and there was no sign of the sign as it appears on your website. We were so disappointed by the new sign that we didn't stop, so I have no updates for you about the rest of its condition. [Michelle, 06/21/2009]

The old tourist stop is still there. A humongous family was having dinner at the restaurant when we were there, and service was a little slow because of it. Amazing stop, however.

Apparently Butch Cassidy's house is twenty miles up the road, but we couldn't find it at 11 pm that night. [Damion, 05/20/2008]

Tipster Tracy reminded us about this place. It's an old tourist attraction at the base of a vivid rock formation -- the "Big Rock Candy Mountain." It was named after a Depression Era ballad attributed to Harry "Haywire Mac" McClintock about a fantasy land for hobos. The song was famously interpreted by Burl Ives in the 1950s, and more recently, on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. The mountain is a combination of sulphur, alunite, and other colorful minerals.

Doug was there as a child and vaguely recalls a large, tacky souvenir store/restaurant at the base. The nutty owner had plugged up the "Lemon Springs" and bottled the smelly water to sell to tourists. When we checked in the mid-1990s, it was closed and tied up in legal wrangling. The gas station across the street sold rock candy and cassettes of the song.

After a recent visit, Tracy Hansen sez: "There was a store open, in fact there were two or three little gift shops attached to hotels and rv parks. The animals were gone, though, and it was a lot cleaner than I remembered." [Roadsideamerica.com Team, 06/29/2006]