Hiking Southern Utah: Dino Cliffs Trail
By Lacey McIntyre
Distance: Approximately 3.6 miles round trip
Family-friendly: Yes
Dogs allowed: Yes, on leash
Directions from St. George
Take Interstate 15 north to the Green Springs exit. Turn left on Green Springs Drive, then right onto Buena Vista Boulevard. In about a mile, you will come to a stop sign at Main Street in Washington. Turn left onto Main Street, and drive down the paved road until it turns to dirt. Continue on the dirt road for about 0.1 mile until you come to the second unpaved turn off on your right. That road will take you toward the water tanks, which are near where the Dino Cliffs trailhead is located. The road can be rough at times, so a high-clearance vehicle is recommended. It will be about a 0.7-mile drive on the combined dirt roads to the trailhead. Give yourself a good 2–2.5 hours to do the round-trip hike so you have time to see the dinosaur tracks, watch the wildlife, and have a snack break. If your vehicle cannot make it on the dirt road, you can park where the pavement ends and hike into the area.
I started this hike around 8:30 a.m. on a nice March day. Due to increased construction and other use near the area, it can be a bit confusing trying to maneuver all the dirt roads. The trailhead is near the Washington City water tanks, one of which you can see to the right off in the distance, so I knew the general location of where I was headed. After taking the second right at 0.1 mile, I followed the dirt road for 0.6 miles and found the trailhead sign on the right side of the roadway.
There is a pull out for parking across from the Dino Cliffs sign. Walk on the marked path, keeping straight at the intersection with another dirt road, to get to the Dino Cliffs stepover.
Stepping over onto the trail transported me to a scenic and peaceful place. Though I passed construction on the way in, I soon almost felt like I was in the middle of nowhere. Many birds nest in the rock crevices seen all around. I was lucky enough to spot red-tailed hawks, a peregrine falcon, and canyon wrens. While I saw no other people on my hike, nearby birds eagerly filled this void with their ongoing chatter of courting and warding off unwanted mates. Within the next few weeks, the area will come alive with creatures. Lizards, tortoises, and snakes will be waking up from their winter sleep and may be spotted along the trail.
About 200 yards into the hike, there are dinosaur footprints. They are not described with an interpretive sign, but there is a “site etiquette” sign that will indicate their presence on the ground below. The smaller tracks I found were most likely grallator tracks. Grallator tracks were some of the first discovered and were made by some of the oldest theropod dinosaurs, a common ancestor of today’s birds. Theropods were meat eaters that walked on three sharp-clawed toes. A couple examples of these dinosaurs would be the coelophysis and megapnosaurus. The bigger of the tracks found on the Dino Cliffs Trail are most likely eubrontes tracks. These tracks were made by meat-eating dinosaurs that were rather large, such as the dilophosaurus.
Just thinking about how dinosaurs had walked the path I was traveling was exciting. I could imagine the prehistoric activity along what was then Lake Dixie. Being a city girl from Indiana, there weren’t opportunities close by to get out in nature and see dinosaur tracks. These tracks feel so wild and real compared to the clinical, remote feel I can get looking at museum displays with specimens from far-off locations. The trail is a well-marked moderate route, but there is a small uphill climb on slickrock that may prove difficult for some. It is easy to lose the trail a bit in the slickrock sections, but there were cairns placed around that helped me find my way. After about 1.8 miles of hiking along the bottom of the beautiful red sandstone formations, the Dino Cliffs Trail ends at the junction of a two-track service road known as the Grapevine Trail. There were some nice rock ledges that made for a great snack break spot. There is also an opportunity at this junction to make a longer loop back to your vehicle by taking the Grapevine Trail; however, I chose to turn around and go back the way I came. I was glad I did, because I spotted two beautiful red-tailed hawks enjoying a little thermal soaring as the temperatures rose.
Once I finished the hike, I decided to take a trip to the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm to learn a bit more about the dinosaur tracks I encountered. The museum building was actually built around the tracks, so you can see them naturally on the ground inside, making the visit a unique experience. They were discovered by accident, with many more still submerged likely 100 feet below nearby areas such as the Red Cliffs Mall. Dinosaurs are everywhere! The prehistory in the area is fascinating, and the museum has some top-notch volunteers who are dedicated and knowledgeable. The cost is $6 for adults and $3 for kids ages 4–11 (kids 3 and under are free). I highly recommend it!
Lacey McIntyre is the outreach coordinator for the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve.
