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Before I arrived in St. George, Jade, Bob and Augustine had done a morning hike in Snow Canyon. They raved about the scenery—Augustine, in particular—and said there was no way I could leave the area without seeing it for myself.
On the first day, we stuck around Sand Hollow State Park for much of the afternoon, jumping off of rocks and taking in the sunset atop Dixie Rock in downtown St. George. The entire second day was spent around Springdale and inside Zion National Park. But on the third morning, just before Jade and I left town to catch our flight to Panama City Beach, we made a game plan. First up: fuel (obviously).
You know we’re not the type of girls to forgo the possibility of a delicious breakfast—especially when that meal includes crepes, both sweet and savory.
Thanks to Yelp, we located a mid-week breakfast option, The Crêpery, that blew us away. Not only were the crepes on point, but the coffee itself was essentially an AP Science project. Have you ever seen anything like this before?
And did I mention there were swings inside? I was bummed we were on such a tight timeline to return to Vegas because this would have been the perfect way, and place, to spend a lazy summer afternoon.
After breakfast, it was time to continue on into Snow Canyon, which was no more than 15 minutes outside of St. George and breathtaking from the time we reached the entrance. I mean, can you even imagine having vistas like this visible from your own downtown?
While the park was technically named for Utah natives Lorenzo and Erastus Snow, I figured it borrowed its name from the parts that look a bit snowier in nature: the sandstone cliffs, if we’re being technical.
Zion is magnificent, don’t get me wrong—and yes, I’ll work up an entire guide on what to do there at some point this summer—but I can’t believe more people don’t flock to Snow Canyon State Park as it boasts 16 miles of trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding, but also very different terrain from the other rocky surrounds in Southern Utah. And it’s just $6 a car for day use, too.
Additionally, for campers, there are both tent and RV sites if you prefer to stay overnight in the barren wilderness.
For big kids like me, it was just one giant jungle gym with plenty of natural equipment to climb.
Not to mention, perfectly vacant roads just asking for handstands.
For big kids like Bob, there were sandy dunes to sprint up and test your endurance.
And the littlest of kids like Augustine will be pretty happy doing anything. (It’s nice when your travel companions are so agreeable, plus cute to boot.)
The one thing I did not get to do in Zion due to an unexpected rain storm was go into a slot canyon (even if I’d been able to, the famed Narrows were still closed). How have I been to all 50 states, 100+ countries and never been in a slot canyon? Your guess is as good as mine. A local blogger had told us there was a hidden one within Snow Canyon, but we couldn’t find hide nor hair of one, so I stopped a trio of sporty-looking gentlemen on bikes who looked like they might know.
“Oh yeah,” one of them told me, “it’s really cool—if you can find it!”
A series of directions from the cyclists and some Google Mapping later, and we were near where we heard this slot canyon was located—just west of Highway 18, south of Snow Canyon en route back to St. George.
For reference if you’re attempting to get there yourself, it’s somewhere in this very vicinity near the text vaguely marking the petroglyphs. I can’t pinpoint where exactly, as truth be told: We never found it.
We parked in a cul-de-sac at the end of a residential area and set out by foot, then met a couple who told us we were walking the wrong way, so we turned back, followed their step-by-step directions and still didn’t find said slot canyon.
Correction, it may very well have been directly below us, but we couldn’t figure out the entry point. And call me crazy, but I hadn’t packed a carabiner, rope or any semblance of a belay system.
Everywhere we looked, the terrain looked the same. You can see how one might get easily lost.
We followed the fence line to make sure we could find our way back out, as both of us were out of cell service range.
Still, whether you locate the slot or not, the whole of Snow Canyon is worth an afternoon of exploration. Because these views—dreamy, right?
And if you do find the petroglyphs in the slot canyon, come back right here and give me directions (preferably, pictorial) so I can follow your lead when next I find myself in St. George (which will be soon, hopefully).
I traveled to Utah on assignment with Travel Mindset and Visit St. George.
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