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Snow Canyon State Park is comprised of volcanic cinder cone, sand dunes, deep red and white sandstone cliffs, and twisted layers of rock.
Hollywood has recognized it as a brilliant backdrop in movies such as The Electric Horseman and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid!
There are 38 miles of hiking trails in Snow Canyon State Park, as well as a three-mile paved biking trail, horse trails, rock climbing, volcano exploring, and majestic views from the Snow Canyon Drive!
Those Snow Canyon Views
When it comes to exploring this unique landscape, there is no better way to traverse it than on foot. Hiking allows you to get up close to admire the rock formation, allows you to look up through the canyons, and explore hidden spots.
In this guide, we share the best Snow Canyon State Park trails and nature walks, for all skill levels of hikers.
About Snow Canyon State Park
Snow Canyon State Park is a 7,400 acre expanse of stunning natural wonderland just outside the town of St George in Utah.
Its defined by a striking canyon carved from red and white Navajo sandstone, and remnants of ancient sand dunes. It’s also characterized by its former volcanic history, and you can still see remains of black lava flows and cones across the park.
It’s a meeting point for the Mojave Desert, the Great Basin Desert, and the Colorado Plateau, and was established as a state park in 1958 as Dixie State Park, but was renamed after Lorenzo and Erastus Snow, prominent pioneering Utah leaders – not for the fluffy white stuff that rarely falls here.
Although the white peaked mountains in the distance certainly give off the illusion of snow.
Snow Canyon State Park Trails
Petrified Sand Dunes Trail
Good news if you love hiking – it’s one of the best things to do in Snow Canyon State Park! If have young kids like us, the hikes are very family-friendly!
They are short, easy, and full of rocks to scramble over, which will keep the kids engaged and happy.
We merged several trails into one big loop walk so that we could see the best of what the park has to offer. Many thanks to the helpful park ranger who plotted it out for us.
We started at the campground visitor center within the State Park, and below is the order of the hike we followed. The mileage for each trails is if you do them individually. By combining them, the trail was around 5 miles.
1. Hidden Pinyon Trail
Easy Hidden Pinyon Trail
- Distance: 1 mile round trip
- Difficulty: Easy
- Time to complete: 30 minutes
- Trailhead:
We took the Hidden Pinyon Trail from the Snow Canyon State Park Visitor Center to begin our hike. It’s an easy walk through a few rocky slopes and sandy self-guided nature trail.
You can take the trail on a longer loop through red rock landscape to get onto the petrified sand dunes or just take the short direct route there.
We took the short route thinking we’d run short of time.
In hindsight, I think we could have done the longer scenic route. It would only add on an extra mile to the hike.
2. Butterfly, Lava Flow Overlook, West Canyon, and Petrified Dunes Trail
- Distance: 2.9 miles loop
- Difficulty: Easy
- Time to complete: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Trailhead:
If you only have time for one trail, make it a combination of the Butterfly, Lava Flow Overlook, West Canyon, and Petrified Dunes Trail, which is a 2.9 mile (4.8 km) loop trail which takes about 1 hour 30 minutes to hike.
It’s very easy and family friendly. We will share information about each trail separately below, incase you want to do them as individual trails, but here is a map of the entire trail combing these four trails.
Fun family hike in Snow Canyon
Petrified Dunes Trail
- Distance: 1.1 mile round trip
- Difficulty: Easy
- Time to complete: 30 minutes
- Trailhead: the trailhead can be found here, but you will need to walk the Butterfly Trail to connect to it (see below)
The Petrified Sand Dunes trail leads you to a group of sand dunes that have hardened into stone due to a unique weather erosion phenomenon.
If you’re curious about how they were formed, it’s quite a cool story. The dunes were once loose sand, like normal sand dunes, but over the years this sand became soaked by mineral-rich water, which when it dries ends up cementing the grains together, or petrifying it.
The result is really cool. We loved seeing the ripples that the wind obviously once created in the dunes, which became frozen in time. The girls could easily see how they were once sand dunes and were fascinated by the power of nature.
The official trailhead is on the west side of the road by the Butterfly Trail, but we entered from The Hidden Pinyon trail. From this trail, turn left and take the very short trail up to red rock mounds to be met by one of the most spectacular views of the park. WOWZERS.
One of the best views in Utah
The girls loved playing on the rocks, sliding themselves through a few tiny mailbox holes they found in the rocks.
You can spend some time here scrambling up and down the different rocks and playing. Our kids raced each other up and down them. It was my favorite part of the total hike we did.
The kids will love this hike
The trail then continues to the Lava Flow Overlook Trail across massive Navajo sandstone outcrops and sand dunes frozen in time.
The Butterfly Trail
The colors of this Utah state park are extraordinary
The Petrified Dunes Trail connects to the Butterfly Trail, which is near the parking lot.
It’s a 2-mile round trip hike that winds along the west side of the Petrified Sand dunes and leads to the lava tubes which is where we continued on from.
There is one steep slope but generally it’s an easy and open trail with beautiful views of the canyon and surrounding mountains.
Lava Flow Trail
Fun for the kids to experience a lava tube
More than 27,000 years ago, lava erupted from a nearby now extinct volcano. Use your imagination and see the path the lava rock followed down this canyon. There is black basalt marking its trail.
Surrounding this area are the magnificent views of the White Rocks Mountains to the north and the red cliffs of Padre Canyon to the west.
I didn’t find this trail as striking as the others, although I did like the contrast of the black lava with surrounding rainbow landscape.
It’s a wonderful learning opportunity for kids though as you hike through a jumbled lava field, the remains of a volcano eruption that happened 27,000 years ago.
There are interpretative panels along the way to help explain more about the lava eruption and resulting land formation.
Here you will find the Snow Canyon State Park lava tubes, which are fun to explore. They were very different to the lava tubes we experienced near Bend, Oregon which were gigantic and easy to walk through.
These ones we had to crawl through tiny spaces with flashlights to get a good look at. It was fun, but I’d prefer the Bend ones as you could better visualize the gigantic lava flows creating it. These ones just felt like caves.
Still fascinating and the kids will love it.
Note that there is a public restroom at the trail head, but this is the only bathroom on the trail so be sure to go before you start hiking.
West Canyon
The West Canyon trail extends from the Lava Tubes down a hard-packed gravel service road and is an out and back trail.
You don’t need to walk the entire trail if you combine it with the others, but it’s worth exploring it a little bit to admire the red and white Navajo sandstone canyons on either side.
Every half-mile you’ll find water pumping stations, so you can fill up your water bottles and return to head back.
Some people bike this trail, so keep an eye out for cyclists.
3. Whiptail Trail
Can’t get enough of the Snow Canyon views
From the Lava Flow Trail, we ended up at the parking lot and walked down the road until we reached the start of the Whiptail Trail.
The Whiptail Trail is a 6-mile round trip trail that is fully paved and great for bikes.
We walked just over a mile on it back to the Visitor Campground where our car was parked, but if you hike the whole trail you get lots of great views.
It’s best to hike in a clockwise rotation for better views. Some side trails offer rock scrambling adventures, but the trail is considered easy and has little elevation.
4. Jenny’s Canyon Trail
Jenny’s Canyon Trail is a short nature walk into a slot canyon and up to an overlook. It’s a family-friendly trail, with little elevation, though it does have some uneven surfaces throughout.
Some parts of the canyon allow rock climbing up the slot canyon walls.
It’s closed from March – June to protect the endangered habitat. It may also be impassable after a rainstorm, so check to see if the trail is open before visiting.
5. Sand Dunes Trail
Sand Dunes Trail is a short trail that doesn’t even look like a trail. It looks like the beach has been strategically placed within the desert.
I even saw people sitting on beach chairs admiring the mountain views.
6. Johnson’s Canyon Trail
Johnson’s Canyon trail takes you to a large, 200 foot stone arch, Johnson’s Arch. It passes through a lava field, dry stream bed, and a canyon.
The great thing about this hike is it’s shaded, thanks to the imposing walls of the canyon.
It’s closed from March – October due to it being an endangered habitat.
7. Whiterocks Amphitheater Trail
The White Rocks Trail is a popular horseback riding trail, but it’s still safe for pedestrians to walk if you prefer not to ride on horse back.
From the Whiterocks trailhead crosses an open lava field and
dry creekbed. Then you take a short spur trail into the rocky cliffs
to see a natural amphitheater.
You can extend this hike onto the Lava Flow Trail at the junction on West Canyon Road.
8. Scout Cave Trail to Snow Canyon State Park Petroglyphs
- Distance: 10.8 miles out-and-back trail
- Difficulty: Hard
- Time to complete: 5-7 hours
- Trailhead: the trailhead can be found at the Johnson canyon parking lot right before the southe entrance to Snow Canyon.
The Scout Cave to Snow Canyon State Park Petroglyphs hike is a moderate to challenging trail through red rocks and sand that will bring you in a loop to four main petroglyph sites, including a slot canyon filled with them.
There is an elevation gain of 483 meters, the highest elevation gain of all the trails on this list.
This is a beautiful hike with gorgeous scenery throughout, and a photographer’s paradise.
The Scout Cave is a unique cave that has a huge window overlooking Ivins and Jarvis Peak. It can be found near the Johnson Arch trailhead.
Tips for Visiting Snow Canyon State Park
Snow Canyon State Park, Utah
Before you go, here are some useful tips for visiting Snow Canyon State Park to help you make the most of your trip and to stay safe.
- Be sure to carry plenty of water and avoid hiking in the high heat. This is the desert and there is little shade. There are usually water stations every so often on the trails, so be sure to fill up your water bottle at every chance.
- Stick to the trails and designated climbing areas. Rock fall is common, and there is a chance the rock could fall from beneath your feet if you step off the trail. Use your common sense and don’t go climbing over loose boulders.
- Look out for mountain bikers. Biking is permitted on West Canyon Road, the Whiptail Trail, and all Paradise Canyon Trails. We walked along the Whiptail Trail, which is paved and looked fun for mountain biking.
- Get there early. The park can get crowded come mid-morning, especially on weekends and holidays.
- Wear comfortable shoes. Although most trails have little elevation, you’ll be doing a lot of walking and rock scrambling, so sturdy shoes are important.
- Be mindful of the wildlife. Snow Canyon State Park is home to a variety of wildlife and reptiles, including snakes, lizards, and scorpions.
- Leave no trace. Take your rubbish home with you.
- Download Maps.me for offline maps. The trails are easily marked, but there is no data signal so if you lose your way, there’s no way to find it. Maps.me is an offline GPS and has the trails marked – it’s really useful for hiking.
Camping at Snow Canyon State Park
There are 31 campsites in Snow Canyon State Park, and 14 RV campgrounds, all easily accessible off the Snow Canyon parkway.
Each comes with water and electric hook up, drinking water, and sewage disposal station.
For Snow Canyon campground reservations go here. For campgrounds in St George, the gateway to Snow Canyon, go here.
Where to stay in St George
We stayed at the KOA St George Hurricane, which we were not too impressed with, although it was close to Sand Hollow State Park (where we did our awesome ATV adventure) and Red Cliffs National Recreation Area (more red mountains to enjoy!)
Hotels in St George Utah that come recommended are:
- LOGE St George Utah opens May 2025 and offers free WIFI, parking, a pool with a view, and a hot breakfast. It’s great for families and they allow pets.
- Best Western Abbey Inn is located in the middle of St. George giving you easy access to restaurants and stores. Free breakfast, pool and hot tub.
- Wingate by Wyndham is also located near restaurants and shops. It also has a free shuttle, complimentary bike rental, free breakfast, pool and is pet friendly.
- Inn on the Cliff is another resort option that often makes the Best of Lists! Gorgeous views, especially from the pool.
How to get to Snow Canyon State Park
Snow Canyon State Park is a scenic park located just outside of St George in Southern Utah.
It’s just under two hours from Las Vegas, so you could visit Snow Canyon State Park for a day trip from Las Vegas.
However, we recommend spending longer in the region as there are so many cool things to do in St. George Utah.
Final Thoughts
We were blown away by the spectacular Snow Canyon hikes we did.
“Red and yellow and pink and green!”
Savannah and I sang through the colors of the Rainbow pointing out each color as we saw it in the kaleidoscope world of Snow Canyon State Park Utah surrounding us.
We were walking past various shades of yellow and green cactus and desert plants.
The orange and red sand underneath our feet padded our walk and beside our path were clumps of black basalt indicating the flow of lava that came through here 27,000 years go.
High above the Navajo sandstone cliffs surrounded us in pinks, burnt orange, reds, yellows and whites. And of, course up above a brilliant blue sky rounded it off.
We were walking in a rainbow!!
Video: Hiking in Snow Canyon State Park, St George, Utah
St George Tours
Looking for interesting tours to do around the St George area? You can join one of the guided tours below with experienced leaders.
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I hope this guide helps you plan your own trip to Snow Canyon. If you still have questions, leave a comment below!
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