Snow Canyon State Park is a beautiful addition to Southern Utah’s vast expanse of incredible natural wonders this part of the state has to offer. Nestled within the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, Snow Canyon State Park has a rich history which helps us to appreciate the canyon's beauty and purpose throughout the ages.

Red Cliffs State Park is a protected National Conservation Area with a diverse biome of native plants, wildlife, and rock formations. This conservation area includes three different geographic regions: the Mojave Desert, the Great Basin, and the Colorado Plateau, making it a special intersection to witness all three from this area. The efforts to protect the natural wildlife in the area make it possible for reptiles like the Mojave Desert Tortoise to populate. Within the Red Cliff National Conservation Area, you will find two federally designated wilderness areas where you can go to witness the vast beauty of this part of the state, The Red Mountain Wilderness and the Cottonwood Canyon Wilderness. WillowWind RV Park is located just 21 miles up the road making it a convenient place to set up your home base for adventures throughout Southern Utah. The drive between Snow Canyon State Park and our RV park is only about 30 minutes.

History of Snow Canyon

Snow Canyon has been said to have first been inhabited by humans around 500 B.C. The first recorded peoples here were the ancestral Publeoans or the Anasazi, who were there from approximately AD 200 to 1250. The canyon has provided a vast expanse of hunting and gathering opportunities. Food and seeds were taken from this area to other areas along the rivers where crops could grow more heartily.

In the late 1700s, Europeans started settling in the area along with Jedediah Smith. By the late 1800s, Mormon Brigham Young sought out the land as a good place for him and his people. The folklore is that Mormon settlers found the land while looking for their lost cattle. There has been recording of the trails at Snow Canyon having been trekked as far back as 1881. The State Parks Commission got control of the land in 1959 when Dixie State Park was created. The state of Utah ended up buying more land around this area and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management then transferred the land to the state and named it Snow Canyon. Snow Canyon is named after Lorenzo and Erastus Snow who were involved in the development of Utah early on.

What to Do at Snow Canyon

Three Ponds Trail: 3.5-mile hike through the desert's canyon that takes you through holes eroded into sandstone that fills with water.
White Rocks Trail: this trail leads you to a variety of exciting destinations all along it. You’ll pass by a rock amphitheater and get to the Lava Flow Overlook where you’ll see the cinder cones of two extinct volcanoes — very exciting!
Petrified Dunes: mounds of sandstone make the dunes an incredible sight to see.
Sandstone Climbing: there are many different opportunities to practice technical sandstone climbing around Snow Canyon. The difficulty levels vary from moderate to advanced. Two of the popular climbing walls are called the Chuckawalla wall and the Turtle Wall.

Geology & Wildlife

A stone called quartzite used to cover a lot of Utah 183 million years ago. Navajo sandstone was created by the hardening of the sand in the multilayering of earthly tones from pale yellows to deep oranges. The Navajo sandstone is the remaining historic rock from the desert sand sea that existed way back then. The volcanoes that were active some 270,000 years ago have erupted and carved out the canyons that exist today. The wildlife is unlike anywhere else in the state. The intersecting regions of the Mojave Desert, Great Basin Desert, and the Colorado Plateau creates an interesting topography for the native plant and wildlife. There is also quite a bit of rainfall that creates the ecosystem that thrives there. Some of this plant life includes yucca, desert willow, blackbrush, scrub oak, and sand sage. The animals you may see here are coyotes, quails, roadrunners, gopher snakes, kit foxes, and canyon tree frogs. All of these are protected as a part of the Red Cliffs National Conservation efforts.

Trails at Snow Canyon

There are so many incredible trails of many different lengths that run through Snow Canyon. Here’s a list of some and what you can expect:

Johnson’s Canyon: 2 miles round trip — this trail takes you through old lava fields, over cliffs, and then out to a resting area. You may see old pipelines that were once used for transporting water from Snow Springs to support agriculture in other areas. This hike closes from March 15-September 14 for habitat protection.
Butterfly: A Petrified Dunes trail that is 2 miles round trip — this trail gives a tour through the different types of geological stones that are in the areas. You’ll see sandstone and basalt, then end at the lava flow trail if you want to continue. This trail is named for the “Butterfly” rock formation which is a slab of sandstone split in half that is shaped like a butterfly.
Hidden Pinyon: The Hidden Pinyon trail is a 1.5-mile round trip, moderate to easy hike. This trail has a total of 19 metal educational posts along the way that guide the trail walkers through to see the winding walkways of rock that bring you to a meeting point between the Petrified Dunes and the White Cliffs.
West Canyon: this is a sand dune picnic area where the roads are closed to cars for people to ride bikes, horses, or hike through. There are 7 underground wells that bring water to the parks and communities in this area.

There’s no shortage of beautiful sites and activities for all ages to do at Snow Canyon. By staying at WillowWind you have access to all of these special trails, dunes, wildlife, and more that take place within the Red Cliffs Conservation Area at Snow Canyon, you won’t regret it!

Additional Resources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Canyon_State_Park

https://www.willowwindrvpark.com/blog/red-cliffs-conservation-area

https://wchsutah.org/parks/snow-canyon.php

https://www.visitutah.com/articles/unexpected-southwest-utah-snow-canyon-state-park

https://stateparks.utah.gov/parks/snow-canyon/discover/

https://stateparks.utah.gov/parks/snow-canyon/snow-canyon-trail-guides/