I’ve hiked to Babylon Arch several times, it’s one of my favorite hikes in the St. George area. After talking to a gentleman near Babylon Arch, he suggested going to the top of nearby Sandstone Mountain. Off we went!
After losing the trail several times (slickrock doesn’t show footprints or create an easy-to-see path) we finally made our way up to where we could tell the trail climbed and became rocky… and rocky… and rocky… and a lot of fun!
At this point in the trip my knees and feet were very painful after the descent from the Zion West Rim Trail above Angel’s Landing on day 2. Going up Sandstone Mountain was fine and we had a great time, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to get back down the way we had come up. Especially after getting to the top and looking back down the rocky and steep gully we had climbed up (first photo, we started from waaaaay down below).
After a long lunch sitting in the sun, I was able to find an old Jeep trail on the GaiaGPS map (thank goodness for Gaia, it’s saved me more than once!). While that it was a longer return to the car, it was much better for my knees. The sand was incredibly deep in places, it reminded us a bit of snow-shoeing in deep powdery snow, each step forward sliding downhill a bit, and it actually cushioned my knees to a tolerable level.
I would absolutely hike this again, it was so much fun minus the knee and foot issues.
