Hiking Toquerville Falls
– By Tom Garrison –
Location: Bureau of Land Management land near Toquerville, Utah
Difficulty: Easy with a 100 feet elevation gain and some minor rock scrambling.
Average Hiking Time: Around one hour of exploring the falls at a leisurely pace. You can spend more or less time exploring.
Elevation: Toquerville Falls is approximately 3,700 feet in elevation with a 100 feet elevation change.
Family Friendly: Watch your step on the rocks and be aware of drop-offs around the falls and everyone should be okay.
Getting There: Heading north from St. George on Interstate 15, take Exit 27, the Toquerville/State Route 17 exit. (State Route 17 becomes Toquer Boulevard in Toquerville.) Go south toward Toquerville and 2.6 miles from the Interstate exit, and just past the bridge over Ash Creek, turn left (east) onto Spring Drive. The first ½ mile of Spring Drive is paved; after that, it is a dirt road extremely rough in many places. Just as the pavement ends is a large green sign reading, “Toquerville Falls, Extremely Rough Road, 4WD Recommended.”
Stay on the main road for 3.6 miles (from the State Route 17 intersection), and where the road forks, take the right fork (not the fork leading uphill). About two miles from the fork, turn off the road to the right and head toward the falls; you will have seen them by now.
Park at a wide area in the road about 1/4 mile or so from the falls and walk to them. Or, drive to the falls and park in flat areas around them.
Everyone loves waterfalls, especially desert waterfalls. Fortunately, spectacular Toquerville Falls is close by. The falls, about 5 1/2 miles from Toquerville, are on La Verkin Creek, which drains into the Virgin River. We have put off this adventure for years; now it is time to see for ourselves what the fuss is all about.
The falls are located on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land. Being BLM land, the hike is free. (Well, our federal taxes do support the BLM, but there is no fee for this particular hike.)
We, my wife Deb and I, began our adventure on a crisp late November morning, two days after Thanksgiving.
The dirt part of Spring Drive, about five miles, has many difficult sections where you need to slow down and choose a good track over the rocks and drop-offs. A high-clearance four-wheel drive vehicle with good all-terrain tires is mandatory for this road. The views of red and white sandstone-accented mountains are quite nice from this rough road.
We have a 2018 Jeep Compass Trailhawk and went slowly along much of the rocky road. It took us 45 minutes to traverse the dirt part of Spring Drive. You may be a bit slower or faster. The other 15 or so vehicles we saw on the road were all ATVs or modified Jeeps and trucks.
We arrived at the parking area near the falls at 10:30 am under a blue Utah sky with the temperature in the low 50s. The elevation at the falls is approximately 3,700 feet and the elevation change wandering around the falls is about 100 feet.
The first thing we noticed while approaching the falls is they are surprisingly loud. It had not rained nor snowed in a while, and La Verkin Creek was low. Yet even a low-flow creek makes a bit of noise falling over two ledges. It would be a roar during spring runoff.
The falls are amazing. The upper plateau creates a cascade falls. The second or lower falls, just 20 feet or so downstream from the first, is roughly horseshoe-shaped with a complete drop-off of about 20 feet. We admired the falls from different angles and then explored upstream and downstream on both sides of the creek for about an hour.
Not surprisingly, the trip back to Toquerville was rough and not much fun. If you want to visit one of the southwest’s premier desert waterfalls, put Toquerville Falls on your list. The great views and the falls are worth the discomfort caused by the bad road.
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