This is one of the places where Utah excels – Utah state parks are above and beyond any other state’s public places that I have ever visited. I fell so in love with Snow Canyon that I bought an annual pass, even though I would be there only 5 weeks. I certainly made good use of it. So many trails, textures, colors, areas, canyons, petrified sand dunes, and lava caves to explore here! It’s a combo-platter of all of the best in the area. Snow Canyon offers a paved bike trail, multiple hiking trails, sand dunes, slot canyons, horse trails, a campground, a visitor center, and ample restrooms and parking areas. Let’s take a tour… Snow Canyon State Park is also home to the threatened Mojave desert tortoise and many other species of animals.

Jenny’s Canyon and Johnson Canyon

Both of these are in the southern section of the park, short and easy trails into beautiful slot canyons. On weekends and holidays, both of these can get fairly crowded since there is limited space for people to spread out, but are both well worth seeing.

Whiptail Trail

The Whiptail trail is a paved bike/walking path paralleling the main road for the lower 2/3 of the park. There were many times that I parked my bike at the upper area, drove to the lower section and hiked up, then coasted on my bike back to the car. Perfect! At one point on the Whiptail trail I almost ran over a 4-foot gopher snake sunning in the late November sun. After stopping and watching it for a while, it finally slithered into the trailside plants.

Hiking Trails – Hidden Pinyon, Petrified Dunes, Butterfly, and Lava Flow

My favorite route for hiking was combining 4 trails. I left my bike at the Lava Flow trailhead, drove down to the parking area by Sand Dunes, and pieced together these 4 trails to end up back at my bike, then coasting on 2 wheels back down to my car. Pretty much a *perfect* hiking/biking day.

The Hidden Pinyon Trail  takes you through some wonderful rock formations at the core of Snow Cayon, part rocky, part sandy, all wonderful. The observation point at the junction of Hidden Pinyon and Petrified Dunes was where I liked to spend time just sitting and looking out in 360-degrees across the length and width of the canyon. A perfect lunch spot, very rarely seeing other people up there.

Petrified Dunes trail is just that, massive sand dunes hardened into rock, with the trail literally scrambling up the sides with markers leading the way. It’s an excellent workout, and another spectacular spot to simply sit and take it all in. I preferred hiking these dunes south to north, with the steeper sections going up and less steep going down. In the opposite direction, be prepared for toe-jamming into your shoes. While there is a “trail” marked across the dunes, it’s a wonderful place to simply explore anywhere, roaming around with the changing views.

Butterfly Trail is a shorter connector trail from the lower section near Petrified Dunes toward the Lava Flow trail, where there are a few small lava tubes/caves that can be explored for those wishing to do so. It’s a really beautiful area, one to not skip over just because it’s shorter.

Lava Flow Trail is in the upper, northern section of the park, where the landscape changes from red sand and petrified dunes to fields of dark, sharp lava rock. To the north are white rocks and cliffs. The color palette here is stunning. We went into one of the lava caves, and while considering the other one decided against it since it required some climbing and contortion to enter that we didn’t feel like attempting that day, and it was crowded so we didn’t want to get stuck at a bottleneck there.

White Rocks Trail

Near the northern, upper entrance to the park is a section of stark white rocks, in contrast to the red canyon walls, sand dunes, and the black lava fields. The trail here is very sandy, and an excellent workout even though it’s not steep. So much variety of terrain in one area!

West Canyon Road – Bicycle

The West Canyon Road is closed to motorized traffic, and is very well maintained so it’s perfect for cycling. The road winds through the floor of the canyon, at the heart of the park. From the access point at the southern Sand Dunes area to the end of the road inside West Canyon and the return trip back is almost exactly 8 miles through incredible terrain, with views all around. Unlike many of the hiking trail viewpoints from above, this road covers the lowest portions of the park, inside the canyon walls.

Padre Canyon – Crazy and fun!

I wanted to experience a more remote area of Snow Canyon State Park with a bit more challenging hiking, and Padre Canyon is exactly that. As with other trails, I parked my bike above at the Red Sands/Hidden Pinyon trailhead, and drove back to the southern, lower entry station. From the entry station, the trail skirts cliffs to the west of Snow Canyon through non-park land, passing by Tuacahn Amphitheater. Past the performing arts center, the trail heads up an increasingly narrow, rocky canyon. As the canyon narrows and gets steeper, the trail becomes progressively more challenging with large boulders and trail-finding through rock fields, with some light scrambling required in sections, but nothing technical. The saddle that the trail goes over is always ahead and above.

The top of the saddle offers amazing views in both directions, both Padre Canyon where I came from, and down the other side into Snow Canyon State Park. It’s a perfect spot to find a lunch rock, rest, and take in the views.

After resting, the trail heads down toward Snow Canyon and the Red Sands trail. Cairns mark the trail in some places, and one spot requires skirting rocks to avoid 2 pools. Once the Padre Canyon trail connects with the Red Sands trail into the main area of Snow Canyon, it’s deep sandy walking for quite a while, which is an excellent form of exercise – thank goodness for beautiful views to distract from shoes filling up with sand! At the end of Red Sands I took the Hidden Pinyon Trail back to where my bike was parked, and coasted down the Whiptail Trail back to my car. What an exhausting but gorgeous day!