A Hike in Snow Canyon

After a rainy night, the weather at Sandy Hollow State Park was just about perfect for a nice hike. The forecast was for temperatures in the 70s with partly cloudy skies. The ankle I sprained in early March has been getting better slowly, but it is still not 100%, and I am trying not to overdo. I wear a pressure bandage and good hiking boots whenever I have to walk for any length of time.

Although I try to limit the number of books we carry, I couldn't pass up "Hiking the Southwest's Canyons" by Sandra Hintchman. I think it will come in very handy for finding just the right hikes for us. Tuesday was the first time I have used it and found the perfect place for us to start our Red Rock May. 

Snow Canyon State park is near St. George, Utah. The book gave pretty good descriptions of the short hikes I selected: Butterfly Trail which connected with Lava Cave Trail for a little over a two mile total distance. I could probably do three with no significant pain, but I want to work into it slowly. 

We started on the trail, and made the correct first turn, but then were distracted by this wonderful swirly rock formation. In a sandy area it can be easy to lose the trail, and since the sand was wet from the previous nights rain, other people's footprints showed up quite well. 

We followed the footprints and lost the official trail.





But then we came to an area of slide rock where there were neither foot prints nor any trail markers.

Craig started to climb up this petrified dune, but I didn't agree that that was the way to go. We consulted the map and were even more confused because the line on the map seemed to be going over the swirly sandstone formation. I wasn't sure about that because the Butterfly Trail was marked as an "easy" hike. Then, I spotted a trail about 40 feet down the hill that was going in the right direction too.  But how to get to it?

As we backtracked to the last marker we had seen, we noticed footprints in the sand going many different ways. It looked like a lot of people had been confused.

The trail description in the book says the trail goes down a reddish Navajo Sandstone Slope. We found it.

 The upright in the center on top is a trail marker. There was a matching one at the bottom, so we knew we were going the correct way. It looks harder than it was. Although they were rounded and irregular, the ridges in the sandstone were like cut steps, and I was glad I had my hiking poles for balance. 

Once down, the trail became very nice. There were not many people on the trail, but we did pass a group of teenagers going in the opposite direction. They warned us about a rattlesnake on the trail. We didn't see it, and assumed the gaggle of rambling guys had scared it off.

About halfway through our hike the Butterfly Trail ended and we continued along the Lava Tubes trail.

The black, rough lava rock was a contrast from the wind-carved red, yellow, and white sandstone. There were several lava tubes in the area, but we didn't feel inclined to explore them.

The sandy floor of the canyon was covered by lush green mountain sage, creosote bush, hearty grasses, and blooming wild flowers. Cactus plants were far and few between. The red rock walls of the canyon were immense, and rival similar formations we saw in Sedona.

The trail brought us back to the road, and we completed the loop back to our Jeep with a nice, easy, downhill road walk. Before heading back to Hurricane, we found a picnic table to sit at and enjoy our lunch sandwiches.  Smoked trout!

Snow Canyon State Park does have a RV campground with full hook-ups. We drove by it and saw a couple of large Class As and fifth wheels. I am going to put it on my list of wonderful places to camp, and if we ever come back this way, we will try to get a space.

Finally, a bit of trivia: this canyon was the site of the Hollywood movies Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Electric Horseman, and Jeremiah Johnson.

Don't miss it if you are in the area.

Is That a Flat Tire? And Lava Tubes

Our plan for Friday morning was to drive about 88 miles from Burney Falls to the Lava Beds National Monument.  Craig has a navigation program on his Android phone, and we have tested it out a number of times in our home territory.  Unfortunately, when Verizon service goes away, the navigation software can't get its instructions.


However, being a well prepared traveler, I had printed out the MapQuest directions for our first six stops on this trip. But because I confused one line of the directions, we thought we had overshot our destination when we were really 20 miles short of it.


We got to a point where we  weren't sure about making a turn.  Fortunately we could see a little town in a "wide place in the road" just ahead. 


We passed the turn and stopped for directions.  Unlike the average city gas station attendant, the man working there was quite helpful, and told us we should have turned "back there."


No problem.  It was a very "wide place in the road" with good visibility, and almost no traffic. Craig did a nice wide U turn.  


At the end of the turn we heard and felt a Thump, Thump, Thump!  The car was doing an oscillation in the rear camera monitor, probably in the front end.  We stopped right away and got out to check the tires expecting to find a flat.  Strangely, everything was fine.  Craig got back in and pulled forward slowly.  I watched the wheels, and nothing seemed amiss.  I did have to run alongside the Alfa for a ways, but finally he stopped and I got aboard.  We don't understand what happened or what the noise was.  We went on our way and all is well.  It had something to do with making the U turn.  


Any ideas?

We arrived at the Lava Beds just before noon, had a little lunch, and then went off to see some Lava Tubes.

I found that I am getting a bit claustrophobic in my old age.  I wasn't really comfortable going down into holes in the ground!

I was better about the larger tubes. We had to wear hard hats and use flashlights.  There were no guides.


It was interesting, and I do like caves in general.  There was something about some of these that made me uncomfortable.  Maybe it is because I have experienced one of California's bigger earthquakes,  (1989 Loma Prieta) when we were very close to the epicenter.  Maybe it was because I carry a packet of grief in my heart for the eleven year old grandson of a friend of mine, who died in the collapse of a sand cave he and his friends were digging in the side of a cliff.


For whatever reason, I just prefer to be top side for as long as possible!