St George Spring Trip 2021

Derek Regensburger
March 25, 2021
Landscape / Utah

My family and I took a trip to St George, UT for spring break. We stopped at Snow Canyon State Park, Pioneer Park, the Santa Clara River Preserve and Yant Flat while in St. George. We then traveled through Zion on our way to Bryce Canyon National Park.

Snow Canyon

Snow Canyon State Park is one of my favorite places to visit while in St. George. It has petrified dunes, a lava flow, and sand dunes to explore. There are lots of interesting plants like yucca to help frame photographs as well. We took the lava trail and the Petrified Dunes trail. I tried using some of the contrasting elements like black lava rocks or yucca spires to frame some of my photos with black and white conversions in mind.

Yant Flat

Yant Flat near Leeds, UT has been on my radar to visit for over a year now. It contains some crazy striped rock formations reminiscent of the more famous Wave formation. The 1.5 mile trail takes you along the flat through juniper forest before ascending a small sandy rise to a viewpoint of Hurricane and Zion. To reach the more interesting rock formations, scramble down some steep slickrock to reach the candy-cane like swirls in the rock below. To find the trailhead, take exit 23 (or 22 if coming from St George) at Leeds. Turn left onto Silver Leaf Road and follow it for 1.2 miles until it turns into a dirt road (Oak Grove Road). Continue down the road for 2 miles as it bends to the left into the forest. Stay left at the Y toward St. George. Set your odometer to 0 and travel 7 miles until you see a small parking area on the left. There will be a trail to the left guarded by a large boulder on either side of it. Head south down the trail until hitting deep sand as the trail veers to the west.

Pioneer Park

A municipal park ordinarily does not sound like a prime photography destination but Pioneer Park in St. George is an exception. The park contains a desert garden and then several trails to some interesting bedrock formations. Many of the rocks contains alcoves which make for some fun photography. I even found a couple of arches inside one. Pioneer Park has an overlook trail leading from the gardens. Follow it up the wash a short distance and then ascend the slick rock for a view of St. George. An interesting arch can be found on the opposite side of the wash.

Santa Clara River Preserve

The Santa Clara River Preserve in nearby Santa Clara is a fun place to go due to the presence of a large number of petroglyphs. The plateau also provides some outstanding views of Snow Canyon and the surrounding area. The petroglyphs are found at the top of a large hill. The hillside contains a collection of large boulders which the Anasazi found to be good canvasses for their artwork. The reserve is found just west of the town of Santa Clara. Follow the dirt road a short distance until parking at the sign for the preserve. To reach the petroglyphs, take the dirt trail leading from the parking lot. It is well-graded and relatively free of rocks. After about 1.3 miles, you will arrive at the summit. The petroglyphs are located amongst the boulders, most of the them about 15 feet down from the rim. There is also the remains of an Anasazi farm village a short distance away.