Snow Canyon State Park

I spent last week in sunny St. George and one of my favorite places to hike in the area is Snow Canyon State Park.  I love red rock and I love desert!  Did you know that there are 22 hiking trails in Snow Canyon?  Some are pretty short and I'm not sure they qualify as a true hike such as the Sand Dunes and Pioneer Names.  A couple of others are closed annually like Jenny's Canyon and Johnson Canyon, but that leaves a lot left to explore. 

Butterfly Trail

Desert dwellers know that you don't hike in the middle of the afternoon.  Hottest part of the day -DUH!  So Tuesday morning bright and early I began my hike along Butterfly trail which gets its name from this split rock that looks just like the wings of a butterfly.  The Butterfly trail to West Canyon overlook is about 2 miles.

My goal this morning was to find the lava tubes.  I had heard about the tubes and how you could climb into them.  What I found was not a tube but a giant lava cave.  It was 10 times bigger than what I was expecting and climb down into it I did!  It was definitely fun to explore the cave, but very stinky!  I wasn't prepared with a flash light and I was really afraid of being attack by bats.  I could smell bat guano (POOP) so I didn't venture in too deep.  I highly recommend checking out the lava "tubes".

Looks small in my picture, but it was huge!

Looking up at the roof of the entrance to the cave.  Didn't see bats, but I could smell them.

Always find color even in the desert.

After exploring the lava tubes I continued on to the West Canyon Overlook.  The landscape is so beautiful!  I never get tired of looking!

Looking over at Whiterocks.  Another trail worth exploring!

Big beautiful sky!

I see and discover something new each time I hike this canyon.  Here is a little arch.  With a closeup shot.

 
I'm not sure what this plant is.  I assume it is some type of Yucca.  The big black bees sure like it!

This plant was over 6 feet tall.

I was so lucky to get this picture of a leopard lizard.  They are huge and
this was the only one that didn't run and hide when I walked by.
 

I haven't hiked Snow Canyon in the summer but I imagine it is way too hot for my liking.  We were lucky last week that the temperatures were only in the mid 80's thanks to a cold front moving through our state.  I did do one other hike last week that I didn't like very much.  

Three Ponds

a.k.a 3 Puddles

First mistake made was hiking this trail in the hottest time of day.  City dwellers! You don't hike desert in the middle of the afternoon!!!! (I was with a group, but didn't speak up and protest)  The majority of this trail is trudging through a sandy wash and it's 3.5 miles of sand filling your shoes.  I experienced a tiny bit of heat exhaustion so I was not in the mood to take pictures (which isn't like me at all).  Sorry didn't like this trail!

******Miles hiked tally     

beginning March 22, 2013

53.3