“Despite its remote location, Hanksville, Utah, has always been on the road to somewhere. In the early days, horse and cattle rustlers passed through, taking their loot to Colorado markets. It was a place of rest for the Wild Bunch outlaws. It has been a supply post for miners of many eras roaming the Utah desert in search of hidden fortunes. And now, the tiny town is a stopover for tourists traveling to Lake Powell, Capitol Reef National Park, the San Rafael Swell, and other redrock, outback adventures.
Hanksville is forever on the route and never the destination. Its population has remained virtually unchanged – around 200 residents – for a century. It’s a dusty piece of desert surrounded by millions of acres of undeveloped canyon country. Paradoxically, it is this isolation that guarantees the town’s survival. For over 100 years, it has been the only supply post for miles.
Hanksville is truly the middle of nowhere.”

—excerpted from “Where the Hell is Hanksville?,” Inside/Outside Southwest, Aug.-Sept. 2008—