St George Part 2

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On Monday morning we pack up for our travel day. It won’t be a long trip but we still must put away all our stuff and pull in the slides even if it is just for a 12 mile drive to the other side of St George to the Elks Lodge. This lodge has a very nice setup for camping. There are 13 electric only sites and a camp host. There is also a dump and fresh water fill to use on the way in or out if needed. The other unique feature is there are restrooms in a separate building next to the camping area that actually has showers as well as a washer and dryer for laundry. I cannot recall seeing this in many other lodges and we have stayed at about 70 different ones over the past 6 years. We arrive to find there are only 3 other rigs parked here so we pick one and setup camp for a weeklong stay. All of the spots back up to a rocky red cliff that is about 60 feet tall.

Our Spot at St George Elks Lodge

We knew that another storm front was to be coming through the area in a couple days so we decided to go out for a hike. The Red Cliffs National Conservation Area is less than a mile from the lodge and has quite a few trail options. We pick the Turtle Wall and Paradise Rim Loop. It’s almost 4 miles with only 450 feet of elevation gain. Mountain biking is permitted here as well so I’ll pay attention to the trail to determine if it might be an area we could handle. As we start the hike, there is a 50 foot tall rock cliff. There are several pairs of climbers giving it a try. There seem to be a lot of small holes that could work as hand holds and places to put your feet, but it looks to be a sheer vertical face so we decide to stick with hiking.

Rock Climbing

Pretty Views Along Trail

The trail is in good shape and intersections have signs to tell us which trail is which so we can stay on track. There are a couple geocaches along the way to take us off route to make the find before continuing on. We knew there was some sort of rock formation that was supposed to look like a turtle so our minds went into overdrive looking at each new outcropping we can across to determine if that one looked like a turtle. As we approached one such formation, we decided this had to be it. The head of the turtle was sticking out of the ground and just behind it was another larger rock that looked like a turtle’s shell. Just behind this formation was a small arch or window in the sandstone.

Looks Like a Turtle to Me

Window in Sandstone Fin

It was definitely a pretty hike and not too strenuous. The highest point of the trail is near the halfway point and overlooks a large housing development.  Most of the homes seem to have been there for some time but there are quite a few that are under various stages of completion. Many of the newer ones are butting up to the cliffs behind them.

Continuing on Turtle Wall Trail

Development Encroaches Cliffs

Heading Back

On the return portion of the loop, there is a wash or small valley that is full of trees. Being early November, many of them are displaying their fall colors making the view even better. This is definitely a nice area to get out in nature even though it isn’t very far from town. We might need to come back for other trail options since it is so close to camp.

Autumn Colors on Display

Yucca Blooms

The bad weather hadn’t arrived just yet and it looked like we could spend the morning walking around some of the historic downtown St George district. The town was founded in 1861 and as with much of Utah, there was a very strong Mormon presence. Many of the early settlers were from the Deep South of the eastern US. They attempted to grow cotton here and early on Brigham Young called the area Dixie. This explains why the Elks Lodge named the St George Dixie Lodge. We had picked up a walking tour map of the downtown area and headed out to explore. Our first stop was the St George Utah Temple. Built in the 1870’s, it was the first LDS temple built in Utah. It’s a beautiful building but we are only able to get a glimpse of it from outside the gates since it is being renovated for a couple years and isn’t scheduled to open until mid 2023.

Beautiful St George Utah Temple

We walk around the heart of the old town marveling at the old buildings. There is also a lot of unique artwork scattered around this area. One we found quite interesting is a large dragon statue made out out hundreds of old license plates. It is located in the center of a roundabout and based on the info from a geocache, the artwork on display is changed periodically.

Unusual Horse Art

License Plate Dragon

Colorful Merry-Go-Round Horse

There was a large crew of people putting up Christmas lights in one of the parks. I bet it will look nice once they get it completed. We managed to see all the highlights of the walking tour before the rains arrived.

"D" for Dixie

Wart Hog Art

Humpty Dumpty Before the Fall

Bell Tower in Park

St George Tabernacle circa 1876

The rains did come and in the higher elevations there was a lot of snow. From the sounds of it, we won’t be going back up to Zion for any more hiking. But by the following afternoon, the front had passed though and we headed out for a bit of a scenic drive to the north of town. We had mapped out a loop that would work up north to the town of Veyo then back south through Gunlock before heading back to camp. We were mainly just out for a sightseeing drive with one exception. Somebody had told us about a shop in Veyo that has all sorts of excellent homemade pies. There was a pullout along the way that overlooks Snow Canyon State Park. We enjoyed the drive and the pie was indeed very good.

Overlooking Snow Canyon State Park

View of Steeple in Diamond Valley Utah

View of Gunlock State Park

The next day we head to a trail in the Red Mountain Wilderness north of town. We had stopped to do a few geocaches near the trailhead yesterday and thought it looked like a nice place to hike. The Snow Canyon Red Mountain Trail was the one we picked although we needed to modify it somewhat if we expected to actually survive the hike.  AllTrails lists it as 12.1 miles and 1430 feet of elevation gain - way beyond what we would be able to complete. However there were a couple geocaches off of a spur trail along the route. Using the CalTopo website I have come to rely on, this modified trail should some in around 5 miles round trip with closer to just 500 feet gain. Reviews of the trail mentioned how rocky it was but it sounded like a beautiful area. As we started up the trail, we understood the statements. I was expecting small, loose rocks but instead they were firmly planted large rocks. I could see how It might be possible to twist an ankle but it wasn’t too bad as long as you paid attention. The views of the snow covered mountains back to the east were quite pretty.

Rocky Trail

Snow Capped Mountains

We found our spur trail that heads over to a view of Snow Canyon State Park and the wilderness adjacent to it. We are about 1500 feet above the floor of the canyons below so the views are amazing. We found a spot along the edge to have lunch and take it all in. The nearby geocache was hidden on a large outcropping that is 50 feet higher and right along the cliff that drops into oblivion. The cache does have a terrain rating of 5 (the highest) so maybe I shouldn’t be too surprised that it took a lot of effort to get to the peak. Chris knew better and stayed back where it was safe. There were lots of really good hiding spots but I couldn’t bring myself to go over the outside edge to see if there were other spots I couldn’t see from up top. I ended up not finding it but did make it safely back.

Quite the View of Snow Canyon

Don't Get Too Close to the Edge!

We started back towards the car but needed to look for one more geocache. It wasn’t along a specific trail so it took some wandering to find a path that got us to this one. We managed to find this cache easily and had another great view of the canyons below. Once we made it back to the main trail, the walk back to the car was pretty easy.

Lined Up with Canyon Below

The next day we had a couple of places we wanted to check out near the town of Leeds - only 20 miles north of camp along I-15. The first was the ghost town of Silver Reef. Back in the 1860’s, silver was discovered in the area. Generally, silver is found in areas with granite, gneiss and limestone, so it was surprising that the sandstone that makes up this area would actually have silver in it. But there was enough silver here that a small town sprung up in the 1870’s. Today there is a museum and interpretive walking trail through the old town. Today not much of the town is left except for a few walls still standing from old buildings. When I think of a ghost town, I usually think of some out of the way location with not much around. This place is not that at all. There is a large number of homes that butt right up to the historic area. We had a geocache to also help give us a tour of the area. One of the buildings has several models of the old town and an audio tour that helps to explain what it was like to live here 150 years ago.

Silver Reef Museum

Old Walls Still Standing

Jailhouse

Unusual House Style

Model of Old Town

Colorful Rock Formations

Old Mining Structure

Just a few miles south of Silver Reef is the another part of the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area. There is a small campground but only tents or the smallest of rigs would fit back here. There is also a day use area with picnic shelters and bathroom facilities. Our goal was to hike the Red Reef Trail. It didn’t sound very challenging but did sound like a very pretty hike. It basically follows along Quail Creek and AllTrails lists it as 2.2 miles out and back. From the descriptions we read, it seems like it is possible to extend the hike even farther but would likely require some water walking. We weren’t looking for a wet walk so we figured we would see how far we make it.

Entrance to Red Cliffs

Bird Perches for Picture

We had timed our visit almost perfectly, the weather was glorious with barely a cloud in the sky and the fall colors were near their peak. We start out on the trail and find it to be one of the prettier hikes we have done with the yellow and orange leaves and the red cliffs as a backdrop.

View at Red Reef Trailhead

Autumn Yellows and Red Cliffs

The creek itself was dry so water didn’t seem like it would be much of an issue - or so we thought. There a faint side trail that led over to a neat little alcove. We did end up coming upon a pool of water, but it wasn’t too bad to get around it and continue up the creek.

Water Obstacle

Alcove Forming

There were a few other people out enjoying the area and as we came around one bend, we met a couple of guys from Quebec that were on a vacation exploring the area. They had stopped because there was a more significant water feature to negotiate if we wanted to continue.

Several More Pools

Approaching Hard Part of Hike

At first it wasn’t clear why they were studying the situation so intently but as I approached I realized this was going to be a tough one to get by. There was a large pool of water maybe 20 by 30 feet and of uncertain depth. The was no way to head on the left since the pool had undercut the sandstone wall. On the right hand side was a steep banked face that had what looked like carved out foot holes that went up and over the side of the narrow falls. One of the guys started to go but chickened out. Chris had already made up her mind - she was at her turnaround point.

Closeup of Foot Holes Carved into Sandstone and Rope Hanging

I decided to give it a go. There was a short length of rope hanging from above the foot holes but as I got close enough to grab it, I realized that it was pretty wimpy looking. It was thicker than shoestring but thinner than clothesline and it looked like it may have broken at some point and was simply knotted back together. I realized that I couldn’t rely on this to actually hold my weight but it did provide enough additional support that I could get over the first half of the climb. As I get to the second half where you need to step around the rock to get to more foot holes you couldn’t see from below. These were carved into the rock a bit deeper and larger so I managed to make it to the creek bed up top. After seeing how it could be done, one of the other guys tried again and got partway up as I tried to coach him but he froze and slowly backed down.

Second Half Foot Holes and Guy Thinking About It

I told Chris I would proceed up the trail a bit further before turning around. In another few hundred feet I ran into another large pool of standing water. The side walls were less steep and the footing was good enough to get past.  Next I ran into a section that looked more like a slot canyon which looked fun to explore but the whole thing was covered in water. I didn’t have my water shoes with me and it wasn’t even clear how deep the water was so I opted to stay dry and turn back.

I Got Past This Pool

I Bailed at This Point

It didn’t take me too long to get back to the large obstacle and see Chris patiently waiting for my return. Now came the hard part to come back down the foot holes. I was able to use my hiking stick to get the rope within reach but every time I tried to go for the foot holes, I would find my boot slip or get one foot in but not being able to get my other foot in the next hole. I started the descent a couple of times but turned around when I got afraid. I was beginning to get worried I was going to have some sort of panic attack along the way. It wasn’t like there was anything somebody else could do to help me and staying there wasn’t an option, so I dug deep and went for it. I’m sure I didn’t look graceful come down. For part of it I needed to face forward but then I needed to turn around and come down the second half backwards. Since I couldn’t see the last few foot holes, I just had to feel for them with my foot. I was convinced I was going to find out how deep and cold the water was but somehow I made it down.

Here I Come

Coming Down Backwards

The hike back down the trail to the car was a piece of cake compared to what I had just done. It did take some time before my adrenaline levels dropped back to a normal level. As we drove back to camp, we decided we had enough time to fit in one last hike for the day in a park just west of downtown St George. The Temple Quarry Trail is only about 2.5 miles out and back around a portion of a large black hill in town. The lava rock found here was quarried back in the 1870’s to be used for the foundation of the St George Temple and the old path used to get the stone out is now a hiking trail. The path is cut into the hill about halfway up, so it gives a great view of the area and is relatively flat.

Starting Out Temple Quarry Trail

There are numerous geocaches along this trail so we had a second reason for being here. Along the way we came upon a tortoise that was out for a walk too. It seems like a rather inhospitable place. The trail eventually comes around the south side of the hill and ends at a bit of an overlook to another part of town. We needed to go a bit further to search out one last geocache. There isn’t much of a trail to the cache but it wasn’t too bad to get around all the boulders strewn about. This cache was somewhat special because of its age. It was hidden over 21 years ago!

Unexpected Location for Tortoise 

Heading Along Backside of Hill

Large Lava Rock Boulders Everywhere

With only a couple more days left in the area, we head to a farmers market at the Tuacahn Amphitheater Saturday morning. While there were lots of vendors there, it was mostly hand crafted stuff, not produce, vegetables or food. The Amphitheater was open so we could walk around to check it out. It sort of looks like a smaller version of the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado that we visited earlier this year. We had planned to find food at the farmers market before we set out on a hike from there but were forced to drive back into town and grab something to eat.

Entrance to Tuacahn Amphitheater

Overlooking the Stage

Large Fans Over Seating Area

After having a good lunch, we came back to Tuacahn to hike the trail up the canyon on the backside of the stage area. The Tuacahn Trail heads up to Padre Canyon and continues into Snow Canyon State Park. We knew we weren’t going to make it that far and get back to the car but we figured we would see how far we could make it. We were surprised to see how large the backstage facility is for the amphitheater.

Looking In Direction of Our Hike

Large Backstage Area at Tuacahn

It was a pretty hike with the canyon walls towering above us on either side. The trail was easy enough to follow but it wasn’t possible to see it too far ahead of our location unless we spotted other hikers and then we could surmise that was where the trail must lead. There was a fair amount of elevation so we found ourselves needing to stop periodically for a breather and checking out the view down the canyon we just hiked up.

Continuing Up the Canyon

Side of Canyon

Seeing the Saddle Point at Top of Canyon

View Back Down Canyon from Part Way Up

We were only a mile into the hike and it started to get much steeper and rockier. We could see the saddle point where the canyon crests. It was tough going and my long legs helped to get up and over some of the rock obstacles. Chris managed to get past them as well. We had some motivation to make it to the top since there was a geocache hidden there so we pushed on, slowly.

Still Not Quite at Saddle Point

It took some time to climb up there needing to use our hands at times, but we made it. We spotted the cache and checked out the view on the north side of the peak. We decided we had enough energy to push on down the other side of the canyon at least for a quarter mile or so. Since the canyon runs north and south, the sun had already set over the western cliff so there were lots of shadows even though it was only mid afternoon.

View of Other Side from Saddle Point

Heading Down Opposite Side

We realized that the full hike back would be in the shadows and without the sun hitting us it was going to get chilly quickly. We turn back and start up the the saddle before working our way back down. Once we got past the really steep portion where footing was poor, we had a nice hike back to the car. As we came to the backside of the Tuacahn grounds we spotted a camel! Somebody’s review in AllTrails for this hike had mentioned to be on the lookout for camels and other animals. It seems like there are animals used in some of the shows that take place here and we were fortunate enough to see a camel. This was a good 3 mile hike that had both beautiful scenery and a challenge.

Looking Back at Saddle from Other Side

Camel

We took it easy the next day and watched some football as we get ready to head out to Boulder City Elks Lodge on Monday. The St George area was indeed a wonderful place. I think our original plans to spend a month here would have worked out well but we will need to settle for the 2 weeks we could squeeze in.