Unexpected Beautiful Journey along the "Red Mountain Trail"

Of  all the hikes we've done, this was one of the most surprising. The trail head is off the 18 highway outside St. George Utah, on the way to the little town of Veyo, a place of fond memories from my childhood.  The town has a pool fed by a local warm spring, and it's where we had our High School graduation party  - many MANY moons ago.  It was also there I slipped on the wet cement, and broke my fall by crashing my knees into a brick wall.  That was probably where my knee problems began, lol.  But back to the hike.

The trail head begins over some big rocks and boulders lined by a fence on both sides.  Also thick groves of Juniper trees, shrubs, sage, and when we went, it was also spotted with beautiful cactus flowers in a variety of colors. The trail's name indicated that at some point we would see the red mountains common to this area, especially through the beautiful Snow Canyon State Park.  Little did we know that the trail we were on would lead us to an overlook high above Snow Canyon, where we could look down on the majestic landscape we'd walked many times before.  The trail map made it appear that it was only about a 2-3 mile round trip hike, but 7 miles later we returned to the car, thoroughly exhausted, yet basking in the beauty we had witnessed.

A local dormant (we hope) volcano in the distance

My hiking partner Jamin and I (Steve sometimes joins us on shorter hikes) hadn't planned on hiking that far or for that long, so we only had one camel pack of water between us, no snacks, and no jackets, and the weather had turned chilly and a bit windy.  But the walk kept us warm, and the views made all the discomfort worth it.

Jamin taking photos of the grand view below of Snow Canyon

Lovely yellow Cactus flower

If you plan to do this hike, give yourself at least 3 hours, wear good shoes, and bring plenty of water.  It's higher in elevation than St. George so it's a bit cooler, and the path is mostly lined with trees, so there is ample shade (depending on what time of day you go - at noon, maybe not so much.  But summers here can reach 100 or more, so plan accordingly.  And the view at the end, is definitely worth the effort to get there.