Snow Canyon State Park

Snow Canyon Table of Contents

• Map of the state park
• Photographs
• Location
• Lava caves
• Scenery of Snow Canyon
• Hiking
• Nearby places
• Similar places

Map

Map of Snow Canyon State Park.

Photographs

Three Ponds Trail, Whiterocks/Lava Flow Trails.

Location

Snow Canyon State Park is quite well hidden, which may be why visitation is relatively low. One road runs through the canyon, linking UT 18 with a lesser road (Center Street/Snow Canyon Parkway), from St George to the little towns of Ivins and Shivwits, location of a small Indian reservation. Extensive housing development is underway in this area, which has alternating patches of red earth and black lava - the buildings are part of the fast expanding suburbs of St George. There are few signposts to the park, but when found the entrance is reached just after the road passes a brand new luxurious estate, its houses extending right to the park boundary. One mile north of the far end of the scenic drive, along UT 18, are several extinct volcanoes - overlooking the east side of the highway on Lava Ridge, and it was eruptions from here, thousands of years ago, that sent molten rock through the valley leaving deposits hundreds of feet thick.

Lava Caves

The best viewpoints are around the north end of Snow Canyon, near the junction of the park drive with UT 18, and the most popular trail begins near here. The 1.1 mile Lava Flow Trail crosses the twisted lava field and passes at least four lava caves, which were formed when the outer edges of a lava stream cooled and solidified while the main flow continued beneath, and later drained away. Some of these caverns are large, but all seem to extend for only a few hundred feet before becoming blocked. The rocks are sharp and jagged, passages are often narrow and there are some quite deep openings in the lava surface, so some care is necessary when exploring. Other trails lead to more lava outcrops, narrow canyons, sand dunes, pioneer signatures, arches and eroded rock formations.

Snow Canyon Scenery

Occasional islands of layered red sandstone rocks rise above the black lava; these are easy to climb and provide excellent vantage points for photography. The canyon also has a selection of desert plants, which add another element to the medley of colors and forms, especially during the spring wildflower season. Sand dunes are scattered around the edges of the valley, and several locations on the enclosing cliffs have panels of ancient Indian petroglyphs.

Trails of Snow Canyon State Park

All Snow Canyon trails.

Featured Snow Canyon Trails

Snow Canyon - Nearby Places

• Beaver Dam Mountains Wilderness (25 miles) - rugged, colorful mountains in northwest Arizona
• Gunlock State Park (15 miles) - reservoir enclosed by red, sandy hills
• Sand Hollow State Park (24 miles) - red rocks, sand dunes and a reservoir
• Santa Clara River Reserve (4 miles) - riparian valley, desert hills and petroglyphs

Snow Canyon - Similar Places

• El Malpais National Monument, New Mexico - extensive lava flows through a wide sandstone valley
• Red Rock Canyon NCA, Nevada - white, grey and red rock formations surrounded by Mojave Desert plains