Situated above and apart of the lovely city of St. George, Utah, the Red Cliffs Desert Preserve (a combination of national, state, and local park systems) is a large expanse of public land set aside to protect the desert tortoise, as well as a myriad of natural features such as dunes, reefs, slot canyons, lava flows, archaeological sites and even dinosaur traces.  If you’re already on the road heading to Zion or just passing through on the way to Vegas, this makes for a great one-day stop over.  St. George is the largest city in the area with plenty of unique area parks, lots of biking and horseback riding opportunities, plenty of amenities, and one of the few places with decent wifi hotspots on this drive.  If you’re coming from Las Vegas, the 1 hr 45 minute drive makes for an easy day trip with lots of interesting landscape along the way, including the Virgin River Gorge, just outside of town in Arizona.

Driver’s Report: Snow Canyon State Park and most of the trails on the west side of the conservation area can be accessed from town, which follows a typical Utah pattern of being on a grid-numeric system with named roads around temple (visible from a distance, so it’s hard to get lost in the main city.)  Snow Canyon State Park is on the Snow Canyon Parkway, accessed from Red Hills Parkway in town.

The visitors center for the desert preserve is located in town between city center and somewhat near Pioneer Park (it was closed for the holiday when we went.)  Most of the trails around town are easy to find and well marked.

The east side of the preserve is a bit trickier to get to; specifically, the Red Cliffs Recreation Area.  From the 15 take the Leeds exit (22 or 23 depending on your direction.) It’ll lead you to a small town that may make you wonder if you’re going the right way.  If arriving from exit 23, turn left on Silver Reef then right on Main Street, which turns into Old Highway 91, a two-lane road.  If arriving from exit 22, turn right onto Old Highway 91.  Eventually you will see signage for the recreation area, which will be on your right beyond two one-lane tunnels that leads under the highway.  The local KOA campgrounds (Hurricane KOA) will be on your left.   NOTE:  the tunnels have a height restriction of 11 ft. 9 in, you may not be able to get through with larger camping vehicles.

 Once through the tunnels, White Reef Trailhead will be on your right, and the road to the main Recreation Area will be on your left. The Recreation Area is a campgrounds and day-use picnic area nestled by Quail Creek with trails that lead out from the campsites, some leading to dinosaur tracks and an old archaeological dig site studying the Anazasi who once resided in the area.

Wheels Report:  Strollers and Wheelchairs:  the accessible trail in this area is the Whiptail Trail in Snow Canyon State Park in the east corner of the preserve (6$ vehicle entry fee).  It’s a paved multi-use trail with some gently sloping hills in spots, but otherwise is relatively flat.  The best thing about this trail is that it runs in the center of the park and next to many of the best features in the park, including the sand dunes, Pioneer Names section, and the petrified dunes area.    

The Red Cliffs Recreation area trails aren’t accessible, but there are two accessible campgrounds and ADA parking near the Orson Adams house.  Vault bathrooms are accessible.

 

Bikes: This bike-friendly area offer a lot of options to choose from, from easy family-friendly trails like Whiptail Trail to mountain bike trails such as Prospector Trail (near the recreation area.)  In Snow Canyon, all of the Paradise Canyon trails are permitted for bikes as well as the West Canyon Road, which is an old maintenance road which is a level gravel trail that follows the canyon all the way up to its head.

Tech Report: Wifi almost nonexistent in the parks, phone service is sporadic.  In town there are plenty of options; some of the parks have free wifi and there are a lot of businesses (including Starbucks, etc.) which host wifi.  We did experience a lot more abrupt service drops while in St. George than is typical in other cities.  Take care if using phone GPS, ours tried to take us into the middle of nowhere when we were trying to get to the recreation area and managed on the instructions given on the official website instead.

Kids Report:   St. George has plenty of unique parks, the most famous being Pioneer Park, which provides a lot of interesting scrambling opportunities (although you may have to keep a watchful eye on them; we saw more than one child up there getting a little too brave on some of the overhangs.)  There are also plenty of traditional parks as well; we grabbed some sandwiches and had lunch in Vernon Worthen Park, which besides free wifi had both toddler and regular play areas with shaded grass areas nearby, making for a good interlude from adventuring.  St. George also has a few small museums, including a children’s museum and the Dinosaur Discovery Site and Johnson farm.

In the natural areas, Snow Canyon was close enough we simply used facilities in town for this venture.  The Outlets of Zion (exit 8) also proved to be a good stopping off spot when going out towards the recreation area.  The recreation area, although not stroller friendly, has a nice shaded picnic area with running water and plenty of opportunities to see wildlife around the creek next to the sites.

 

General Tips:  Some of the trails in this system are seasonal, such as Jenny’s Canyon (children’s trail in Snow Canyon) only open for the summer when there’s no snow runoff, and Johnson Canyon (closed in summer.) Also, some of the trails can get particularly muddy in wet conditions, such as the White Reef biking-horseback riding trail, so you may want to check conditions if you are planning on using a particular trail.  Parking is limited in the recreation area, so pack your patience (as well as water) on busy weekends.

Web Report: Official sites: Red Cliffs NRA http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/st__george/recreation/day_use_areas/red_cliffs_recreation.html  Snow Canyon: http://stateparks.utah.gov/parks/snow-canyon/  St. George services: https://www.sgcity.org/departments/leisureservices/