Hanksville, Utah: Hollow Mountain Gas Station

The gas station convenience store is built right into the side of a mountain. They have everything a normal gas station convenience store would have as far as food and things. An employee told me it's been there for over 40 years.

Some skeletal dinosaurs have been added on the roof by the Hollow Mountain store entrance.

On March 6 I drove through Hanksville, home of the Hollow Mountain gas station. I was with a group that was in a hurry, so I didn't get a chance to talk with anyone inside. But I did manage to snap a couple of photos.

This business (Hollow Mountain Gas & Grocery) is under new management. It has been made larger inside the rock, with more items for sale, and you can see the rockface in the hall to the new, larger restrooms. More expansion is planned in coming months. I am the owner's sister and I can vouch for the fact that we are going to have a better souvenir selection as well.

Note: Lake Powell still has plenty of water. The low lake level reports are only half the story -- if you think of the lake as a four story building, it has only lost the top story. There is plenty of lake to play on, and you can see things that have not been accessible for years. The fishing is fantastic right now.

At the junction of Route 24 and Route 95, is the "Hollow Mountain Gas & Grocery." This small store is literally carved out of the mountain (although "mountain" may be a somewhat generous term for a 40-foot high hunk of rock). Apparently, they were blasting away rock so they could build a gas station on the site, and someone decided that it would be easier to carve a hole in the rock than to keep blasting. The engineers determined that it could be done safely, and presto! Hollow Mountain was born. There's a dearth of souvenirs, though. The best I was able to procure was a "Hollow Mountain" cigarette lighter.