Petrified Dunes Trail, Snow Canyon State Park

Petrified Dunes Trail, Snow Canyon State Park

– By Tom Garrison –

Trail: Petrified Dunes Trail
Location: Snow Canyon State Park, Utah.
Difficulty: Easy with slickrock slopes, uneven surfaces, and some short steep inclines in the dunes. The first section of the trail is strewn with lava rocks—literally watch your step.
Average hiking time: One to two hours at a leisurely pace with much exploring.
Elevation: The trailhead is approximately 3,490 feet elevation with about 120 feet elevation change from the trailhead to the highest point of the trail.
Family friendly: Yes, although some of the slopes may be a bit difficult for young children.

Getting there: From St. George go north on State Highway 18 (Bluff Street) and turn left (west) onto Snow Canyon Parkway. Continue approximately 3.6 miles and turn right (north) at Snow Canyon Drive. The Snow Canyon State Park south entrance is .8 miles ahead. Pay the fee and continue north on Snow Canyon Drive 2.4 miles past the entrance station and park in the signed Upper Galoot parking and picnic area on the right (east). The trailhead is directly across the road.

Everyone loves sand dunes—big swoopy-shifting mounds of sand. As a special bonus, most sand dunes in southern Utah are a tropical orangish-pink color. Regrettably, exploring sand dunes is not much fun—slogging forever through the loose grains. Going uphill is worse, two steps forward and sliding one step back.

Fortunately, mother nature provides a way to easily investigate sand dunes. Give her enough time, a few million years, and the right conditions and she simply petrifies the grains into a solid mass—petrified sand dunes. Easy to walk on and still retaining the majestic dune feeling. Yea!

In mid-September, Deb, my wife, and I decided to explore a new, for us, trail in Snow Canyon State Park—Petrified Dunes Trail. If the remainder of the St. George area was a vast wasteland, Snow Canyon would still be good enough reason to live here for outdoor enthusiasts. The 7,400-acre park was created in 1959 and has views that rival the much better known Zion National Park. There is evidence that the Ancestral Puebloans/Anasazi used the canyon for hunting and gathering and were followed about 1200 AD by the Paiutes. In the 1850s Mormon pioneers discovered the area.

Snow Canyon State Park is home to a diversity of plant and wildlife species. Although we did not see them, heat-loving lizards make their home in the petrified dunes area—the rock captures the heat during the day and slowly releases it at night.

We arrived at the trailhead about 9:00 am on a hazy morning. The temperature was in the low 70s. Unfortunately for snapping photos, the sky remained somewhat hazy with wispy clouds during our entire hike.

We traveled about 1.2 miles roundtrip taking one hour at a leisurely pace. We did some exploring on the dunes. You could easily add another mile and hour if you explored it extensively.

The beginning of the trailheads west for about 1/4 mile and quickly skirts the bottom of the massive petrified dunes. The first section is peppered with lava rocks—watch your step. Then comes a short section of loose sand and a left turn leading to a shallow upslope—the entrance to the dunes. From here, there is no marked trail, at least not one we found.

(In doing Internet research for this hike, I found some people mentioned half spheres with arrows embedded into the rock as trail markers. Others said the markers had been removed. I did find one place with two small holes close together drilled into the rock. Clearly a place for a trail marker that no longer existed.)

Non-technical (no ropes, pitons, etc. allowed) scrambling is encouraged. We simply wandered around generally heading south toward the southernmost point of the dunes. It is amazing the shapes a bunch of solidified sand battered by wind and rain erosion can take—ripples, potholes, staggered layers, and small windows.

Once atop the dunes, the views are spectacular. To the north is an isolated mountain of white sandstone. To the west and southwest are jagged multi-hued cliffs and mountains of the main canyon. If for no other reason, the vistas are well worth this short hike.

We headed toward the highest point of the dunes and found a surprise—several small pockets and a couple of large fields of Moqui Marbles. These are small spheres of sandstone encased in iron oxide. Scientists aren’t exactly clear on how these rocks form, but they are a common sight throughout southern Utah.

We retraced our steps returning to the trailhead, enjoying slightly different views of this colorful and enjoyable hike.

I highly recommend this hike. Living so close to Snow Canyon State Park, one tends to forget the amazing sandstone formations and views. I rate this hike as easy with some Slickrock slopes, uneven surfaces, and a few short but steep uphill sections.

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