North of St. George, Snow Canyon State Park (435/628-2255, 800/322-3770 or www.reserveamerica.com for camping reservations, $5 day-use fee per vehicle, $15–18 camping fee) is a great place to explore and enjoy the desert scenery. Red-rock canyons, sand dunes, volcanoes, and lava flows have formed an incredible landscape.

Walls of Navajo sandstone 50–750 feet high enclose five-mile-long Snow Canyon. Hiking trails lead into the backcountry for a closer look at the geology, flora, and fauna. Common plants are barrel, cholla, and prickly pear cacti, yucca, Mormon tea, shrub live oak, cliffrose, and cottonwood. Delicate wildflowers bloom mostly in the spring and autumn, following the wet seasons, but cactus and the sacred datura can flower in the heat of summer.

Wildlife includes sidewinder and Great Basin rattlesnakes, Gila monster, desert tortoise, kangaroo rat, squirrel, cottontail, kit fox, coyote, and mule deer. You may find some Native American rock art, arrowheads, bits of pottery, and ruins. Many of the place-names in the park honor Mormon pioneers.

Snow Canyon was named for Lorenzo and Erastus Snow—not for the rare snowfalls. Cooler months have the best weather; summers are too hot for comfortable hiking except in early morning.

Getting There

Hwy. 18 leads past an overlook on the rim of Snow Canyon and to the paved park road (Hwy. 300) that drops into the canyon and follows it to its mouth and the small town of Ivins. Snow Canyon is about 12 miles northwest of St. George. It’s reached either by Hwy. 18—the faster way—or via Santa Clara and Ivins.