More St George Hikes

The Red Cliff National Conservation Area, 15 miles north of St. George is a real treasure with 25 moderate trails ranging from 1.1 to 17.1 miles and from 2,929 to 5,121 feet above sea level. The sunshine made hiking with temps in the 50s and 60s very pleasant. With so many to chose, here are a few that we tried.

Turtle Trail

The Turtle Trail wasn't well marked and we missed the turnoff, giving us a pretty bonus mile. Thank goodness the All trails app got us back on track.

March to October the protected desert tortoise can be found wandering around this area.

Flintstone House?

Lots of bike paths too but too little time.

Red Reef Trail

The Red Reef trail starts out of the BLM Red Cliffs campground 1 mile west of Interstate 15 at Harrisburg. This relatively easy trail following the Quail Creek out of the campground and enters a winding, beautiful red rock canyon. ½ mile up the canyon is a large pool of water over an 8-foot sandstone wall with carved-out foot holds (locally called Moki steps) with assistance from an anchored rope.

This was such a neat trail.

Moki steps

The wonderful Red Reef Trail was only 3 miles and a half mile trail leading to a group of Anasazi pit houses and other archeological ruins with interpretive displays was on the opposite side of the campground. There was no reason to hurry back so we headed over to check it out.

Leaving the Anasazi site, there was a sign that I wasn't sure what it was indicating until we got closer and read dinosaur prints.

The two miles around the west Cinder Knoll was a great walk on a rest day and only a mile from the campground. Every trail was completely different and so many more to explore.