Snow Canyon

2025-09-12
Snow Canyon, UT

I rolled out of Cedar City this morning onto Interstate 15 and sped up to 80 MPH. That was the limit, and I find it's fast enough that I don't exceed it. I arrived at Snow Canyon soon enough. After checking in at the campground to get a map, I had a little time to kill before check-in time for my campsite so hiking seemed perfect to keep me occupied. I headed out to Scouts Cave for about 4 miles. Apparently it's quite near the edge of the park because the end of the trail borders on a neighborhood. They have good views and don't have to climb the big hill to visit the cave.

Scout's cave. These ladies were not in fact scouts nor was the dog's name Scout. If there's anything the internet has taught me, it's to use a banana for scale. And if you don't have one, then use literally anything else, including this Missourian.

You can see the neighborhood from the cave

The trails are good in the park, and the paths are a variety of materials, including loose sand (like at the beach), a'a lava (the sharp stuff), mixtures of the two, and of course solid rock, often very large rocks with smaller rocks (about the size of a Jello mold or breadbox) on top. The loose sand is the hardest; even climbing a rock is usually better.

Afterwards, I did my usual desert routine and took a bit of a siesta. The afternoon was spent reading, napping, and refilling my water bottle when it was empty. I serendipitously ended up with a site that had a nice shade tree, as well as being surrounded by lovely scenery. I did have a visitor hovering around briefly.

Picked the site kind of randomly; sometimes it works out really well.

Not a good picture of the hummingbird, but you get the idea

In the afternoon, I set out on another hike for about 4.2 miles in a different area of the park. I modified it so I could start from my campsite. I climbed the "Petrified Dunes" which were made by sands blowing in and, combined with mud and pressure, became sandstone. Then most of the surrounding material eroded away, leaving the current mounds. They come in red and white depending on iron content; the contrast is striking.

Typical Snow Canyon rock. At least this one won't get stuck in your shoe.

They call this a Petrified Dune. The trail goes right over it.

I didn't have the right lens for this scrub jay

You can see both the white and red versions of the sandstone. Because sometimes you feel like iron, some times you don't!

I also stopped by a lava tube. These are where lava flowed after an eruption. The outside cooled on the top where it was exposed to air but the inside kept hot and flowed. When lava drained away, the channel remined. It's pretty cool though. The ranger said to bring a flashlight. I thought everyone carried those, on the same device with cameras and calculators?

It was tough to get down, but I was going into this lava tube even if I got stuck there.

Here I am pretending to be lava. Don't let me touch you!

After the hike it's back to the tent for supper. I don't usually talk about food because no one cares if I had chicken or fish last night, but here's a brief description of my camp fare for anyone wondering. My usual camp supper is pasta-based. For example, I bought several boxes of couscous. The right serving size is half a box, so we separated the cous from the cous into two bags per box. I prepare as per the instructions, add some dehydrated peas early, and add a packet of Starkist cooked chicken just before eating. I have a few different kinds of pasta - four cheese, herb, etc. The only difference is the boiling and sitting times. It's all based on boiling water, the single trick of my Jetboil.

Hiking distance: 8.2 miles