Snow Canyon – Lava Tube and red rocks, sounds like a combination for a disaster

The beauty that you find in Southern Utah and Southern Nevada is unparalleled in scope and wonder. Nowhere else in the world will you find the striking red rocks, wildlife, and harsh desert climate like that of the Mohave (or Mojave) Desert. The Mohave Desert is huge (but apparently it is the smallest and driest desert in North America more information here) see the map below. Snow Canyon State Park is part of that desert.

How To Get There

From I-15 Northbound:
Take exit 6 (Bluff Street). Go north on Bluff Street to the intersection with Snow Canyon Parkway. Turn left onto Snow Canyon Parkway and proceed approximately 3.5 miles and turn right onto Snow Canyon Drive. Follow this road to the south entrance of the park.

From I-15 Southbound:
Take exit 10 (Washington). Turn right off the ramp then an immediate left at the light. Follow this road for approximately 5 miles to the intersection with Bluff Street/ SR-18. Proceed through the light and continue on Snow Canyon Parkway for approximately 3.5 miles and turn right onto Snow Canyon Drive. Follow this road to the south entrance of the park.

Surreal Beauty of snow canyon

Snow Canyon is a lot like the Valley of Fire (check out our post on the valley of fire here), similar colors and formations, however Snow Canyon has lava tubes. What are lava tubes anyway? Lava tubes are natural, underground tunnels formed by volcanic activity when the surface of a lava flow cools and hardens, leaving behind a hollow channel where lava once flowed. They are found all over the world, Hawaii, California, South Korea and many other places. The hike to see them in Snow Canyon is named Lava Flow (find more information here).

There are two small lava tubes that have entrances on the trail. The first one you come to is difficult for younger children to get in and out, they will need assistance to get down into it. Both of the tubes are fairly small in terms of cave like structures, but the kids love climbing around and exploring, fortunately they can’t get lost. As a side note, those lava rocks are sharp, I think most of our party ended up with a scrape of some kind!

The second tube is much larger and easier to get into. It has a wide opening that leads down into the tube, we spent far more time in here since there was more to explore.

After the second tube you can turn around and go back to the trailhead, continue on and switch over to the butterfly trail, or climb to the top of the petrified sand dune. My kids always opt for climbing, so we did.

There are over 38 miles of hiking trails, including interconnected trails, slot canyons and lava tubes. It will take way too many visits to cover all of the trails. The kids were feeling pretty tired since it was pretty warm , so we headed down to the other petrified sand dunes, these can found throughout the park. The dunes are really fun to walk up an down on, they are not too steep in most places and the footing is usually excellent, you can walk right up them like you have on gravity boots. The final trail we did was Red Sands, which is a super sandy trail but pretty short, it was mostly shaded when we arrived and it was fabulous in the shade. We will return for the scout cave trail and I will eventually add it to this post. As we have started to hike again we have learned that our kids (especially the teenagers) are talking to us, openly. They can’t be on there phones because they will trip and break their phones and so they walk and talk, it has been amazing. Keep trekking.