Snow Canyon State Park

Snow Canyon State Park is located in southwestern Utah near St. George. This quiet park offers 7,400 acres of beautiful red rock and lava rock scenery. It is the perfect bonus if you are visiting the area and/or Zion National Park. Snow Canyon is known for its geology, diverse plant and wildlife, mild weather, and outdoor recreational activities.

Check out our video

Quick facts about the park

• The campground is open year-round; water and electric sites
• Hiking, biking, rock climbing, horseback riding, photography, etc.
• 38 miles of hiking trails ( some are great for kids or older adults who do not want a strenuous hike)
• 3-mile paved bike and walking path
• 15 miles of equestrian trails
• Small visitor center; the ranger was a great help in determining our hike for the day
• Guided activities; we did the full moon hike later in our trip
• Tuacahn Theater is nearby

Planning our visit

Keith and I were in awe entering Snow Canyon State Park. We made our way to the visitor center where the small building housed a few geology and wildlife displays. It’s a great starting point for exploring the park and checking out the campground.

The very informative ranger helped us understand our research of the park and certainly answered our questions. He recommended an itinerary for several days of exploring this park. We planned to do a little hiking on our initial visit, next we would take a bike ride for our second visit, and lastly, we were able to get the information to sign up for a full moon hike later in the month. This might have been our first visit to the park, but it definitely wouldn’t be our last.

Our hike for the day

As recommended, we started our hike across from the visitor center/campground on the Hidden Pinyon Trail. Keith describes this part of the trail as the ultimate “kids' playground.” The relatively flat basin leads you through some narrow passages, up and down sections of sandstone, and up and down sections of the natural staircase, and feels like the perfect place to play hide and seek among the red rock and black lava flows.

Next, we caught the Petrified Dunes Trail and immediately felt like we were on another planet! Wider spaces, large sandstone mounds, and views for as far as the eye can see. Eventually, we lost the trail a little here but ended up on the bike path which was our intended route. All and all, it was nice to make this loop and see a good portion of the park while enjoying the various types of rock and landscape. We even stopped to video chat with family, with the intention to give them a peek at this amazing place.

Pro tips for visiting the park

• Use the park rangers for recommendations.
• Pack a picnic for hiking.
• Attend a park event if possible (ex. full moon hike).
• If visiting multiple times, plan on multiple times of the day. We got to see the beauty of the park during the day, at sunset, and also at night time.