Southern Utah
Written from 25 minutes up the road, so take the one entry about our own canyon with the appropriate pinch of salt. Everything else here we send our own guests to.
St. George sits at about 2,800 feet in the Mojave, which is why it is warm in February and brutal in July. Almost every decision about what to do here is really a decision about temperature — so this list is organized that way: first how to handle the heat, then the places themselves.
The reservoirs are the default. Sand Hollow is the big red-sand one with the warmest water and the dunes behind it; Quail Creek is deeper, colder and quieter; Gunlock sits out west past the Shivwits. All three are state parks, so expect an entrance fee and expect Sand Hollow to be busy on a Saturday.
Every 1,000 feet you climb takes roughly 3–5°F off the thermometer. Drive SR-18 north and you climb out of the Mojave into juniper and then pine. Veyo is about 25 minutes up that road; Pine Valley, another twenty minutes on, sits under 10,000-foot peaks and is one of the few places in the county that is genuinely cold in July.
A canyon with a creek in it behaves nothing like open desert. Shade, evaporation and moving air do most of the work — which is the whole reason our own canyon runs 12–15° cooler than town on the same afternoon.
Serious hikers here start before sunrise and are back by ten. The rock radiates heat well into the evening, so late afternoon on slickrock is hotter than the air temperature suggests.
Drive times are approximate and from central St. George. We have deliberately left out prices, opening hours and reservation rules — those change, and we would rather you check than trust a page that was right last year.
~1 hour east
The reason most people are in southern Utah at all. Worth knowing before you go: Angels Landing requires a permit through a lottery, and the main canyon runs on a shuttle for most of the year, so you do not simply drive up it. The Narrows is the other headline hike and depends entirely on what the Virgin River is doing that week.
~15 minutes northwest
The one locals send you to when you have half a day. Red and white Navajo sandstone, petrified dunes you can walk out onto, and lava tubes you can climb down into. Far shorter drive than Zion and, on a spring or autumn day, arguably the better walk.
In town
Real tracks, in the rock, under a roof — which makes it one of the few genuinely good options when it is either too hot or actively raining. Small, indoors, and better than it sounds.
In town, above the city
Free, ten minutes from downtown, and full of sandstone boulders, slots and an arch to scramble through. The best hour you can spend in St. George without paying anybody.
~20 minutes, in Ivins
Big Broadway-scale productions staged outdoors in a red rock canyon. It runs a season, so check what is on before you plan an evening around it.
~30 minutes northwest
Spectacular, and conditional. The falls only run when the reservoir is spilling after a wet winter — in a dry year there is nothing there. Ask locally before making the drive.
In town
The Tabernacle and the Brigham Young winter home are the anchors, and the surrounding blocks are walkable and shaded, which matters more than it sounds in August.
~20 minutes, in Ivins
Galleries, a coffee shop and a desert amphitheatre built into the landscape. A quiet couple of hours rather than a whole day.
~25 minutes north
Ours, so treat this entry accordingly. A private canyon on the Santa Clara River with a naturally warm spring-fed pool, 207 bolted climbing routes on the basalt walls, crawdads in the creek and campsites under cottonwoods. One $18 pass covers all of it, and the canyon runs 12–15° cooler than town.
No fires allowed: area fire ban.
Start on the rock before eight — Snow Canyon or Pioneer Park — and be finished by ten. Eat somewhere with air conditioning through the middle of the day, or go and look at dinosaur tracks indoors. Then get in water for the afternoon: a reservoir if you want space and a boat, or drive north up SR-18 into the higher country if you would rather have shade and a creek than a shoreline. Evenings cool off fast once the sun is off the rock, which is when the outdoor theatre and the downtown blocks make sense.
In winter the whole thing inverts. St. George becomes the mild place everyone drives to, Zion is quiet, and the high country north of town is under snow — though the climbing in our canyon is genuinely better in the cold, because the cottonwoods drop their leaves and let the sun back onto the walls.
Each adult is required to sign a separate waiver. Parent/legal guardian can sign for the kiddos. It just takes a minute. Sign before you arrive or use our iPads at check-in.
