Scores Of Abandoned, Crushed Classic Cars Are Stacked In A Utah Canyon
In Utah, off Highway 89 near the Arizona border, you'll find an unusual collection of classic cars. They're not kept in pristine condition in some remote museum. Instead, they're preserved by the desert air, stacked in a remote canyon like a wall, dividing you from the rest of the red-washed desert. The cars have been there for some 60 years, and at least at one point, there was a darn good reason this wall of classic cars existed.
The term, officially, is "Riprap." It's a term used by geologists and those in similar fields to describe any kind of material left along banks to protect land from erosion, say, like a wall of cars. Normally, you'd do this sort of thing with rocks, concrete, or similar, maybe to keep the loose, silty sand on the other side of the barrier from washing away in the current. In this part of the world, it's the reason nearly every canyon you walk through exists. The cars are just that, dropped there by people who believed that some junkers filled up with gravel instead of gas would be a decent barrier.
The stack of cars is tall enough to climb, but a recent tetanus shot is practically a requirement. The Catstair Canyon riprap aimed to keep the flow of water from what used to be a riverbank. It did its job well, seeing as the riverbank and wall of cars are both present, though the water only returns when it rains. By the early 1970s, though, this sort of thing had fallen out of practice. Cars were, at the time, thought to be a solid idea because they didn't erode at the same rate as stone or other natural materials, and because they were sitting around in junk yards anyway. While the practice is long gone by now, the cars remain.
This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jun 5, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
2026 The Arena Group Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.
This story was originally published June 5, 2026 at 11:50 AM.