An afternoon in the hills near St. George, Utah

On the way from Mesquite, NV to St. George, UT, a drive of not much more than an hour, we also passed through a snippet of Arizona. Johann had thought we might be able to go for our daily hike in the Littlefield area, but the idea that we might find a tourist office there was soon abandoned: Littlefield really is little, and we moved on, passing through the impressive Virgin River gorge: I 15 runs through it for several miles, crossing the river a few times back and forth. 

The Virgin River recreation area seemed like another possibility. It looked very inviting, with a great view of the Virgin River basin and nice camping/picnic spots. We were lucky enough to encounter some park maintenance people whom we could ask, but that didn’t help us much: they told us there was indeed a trail along the river, but it was short, and to continue we’d have to cross the river – which is only possible when it is low. Right now that was not the case.

Oh well, off to St. George then. We’d certainly find some place to hike/walk there. Coming down the hill into town I was stunned by the beauty of the area: huge red cliffs make a dramatic background for this sprawling city. We had not expected St. George to be this spread out. This was not a small town by any means, it was a good-sized modern city. We hadn’t read much about the place before, just knew that it was well suited for us to delay the return to winter a bit longer because of its climate and the proximity of Snow Canyon State Park. There were enough places of lodging to choose from as well.  

We decided to pay a visit to the tourist office at the edge of town, close to the Virgin River, first. The huge parking lot was almost full – what was going on here? It looked like we had landed at a convention centre, and later on it turned out that that was exactly what had happened. The ‘Dixie Centre’ where the visitor centre is located is also home to a convention centre and an impressive wildlife museum – but more about that later. 

The Utah Parks employee had all the information we needed, but was surprisingly unenthusiastic in welcoming visitors, which was a bit disconcerting to me. We left with the feeling that he would rather not be where he was – but with our hands full of maps and the place to hike nearby clearly marked on one of them. That was all we needed, after all. 

It was early afternoon, and we decided to walk first and find a motel later. The place we were headed for, recommended by the parks guy, is a trail system right on the north end of town with trails that are dedicated to hiking only in some cases, in others are multi-use (hikers, horseback riders and cyclists).

We had a bit of trouble deciphering the trail map, but just then a couple of runners arrived back at the parking lot and suggested a loop of about five miles with nice scenery. It was a bit windy and about eleven degrees, just nice for walking in an area where much of the year not cold but heat can make things unpleasant. The first leg of the trail, ‘Chuckwalla’, named after the large lizard native to the American southwest, led us down into a green valley. Shortly after the start we passed a boulder where climbers practiced, hooks visible all along the top. Next, we encountered a couple of mountain bikers on their way back to the parking lot. After that, it got really quiet.

To our right rose beautiful red rocky walls, to our left a small (now seemingly dry) creek provided enough moisture to sustain some beautiful gnarly old cottonwoods, some of their branches half broken off, leaning on the ground, yet covered in buds about to burst open. I had a hard time leaving; it felt so good in that cove with these trees, grass green under my feet.  

But the trail was calling, and soon we left the lowland.  Chuckwalla trail connected to Turtle Wall trail, and now we were walking on solid rock. Not very far away the city stretched beside and below us, but it felt as if we’d left it far behind. We were at the edge of Red Cliff Conservation Area, an area dedicated to the preservation of several rare and endangered species, but especially the desert tortoise. Our hopes of spotting one of these elusive animals weren’t fulfilled, however, even at ‘Turtle Wall’, only small lizards enjoying the sunshine on the rocks here and there. 

At the end of Turtle Wall we turned right on Beck Hill, which led us along a rim for a while with a great view of red rocks, black volcanic boulders and a snow covered mountain in the distance to the east, all set off nicely against the deep blue sky: the combination of colours is stunning. The trail dipped down into the lowlands again, and the wind, which had been almost unpleasant on the ridge, diminished, so that we unpacked our lunch and took a break, leaning our backs against the rocky wall. 

Before we connected back to Chuckwalla trail for the last leg of the hike we disturbed a flock of quail who had fed among the greening bushes to our left – nice to see some wildlife, as always. When we passed the climbing wall again it was considerably busier, but on the whole hike we had passed only two other couples out for a walk, despite the proximity of the city. I imagine it is quite different on weekends.