It was time for our annual Family Reunion in St. George. We almost had the whole family there - just missing Matt & Marissa and Teddy-and we really missed them, often hoping they would surprise us by showing up. They didn't. 😢
We had a new house which was very big and nice, with a community pool, water slide and fun lazy river.
We were going to attempt to go to Kanarraville Falls again (like we did back in 2016), but it's now $15 pp because the secret is out and it's too popular now and the spring runoff was too high. But, we found a little known hike 1 mile from Kanarraville Falls hike called Spring Creek. While it's not through the water like Kanarraville Falls hike, Spring Creek was beautiful and we loved it.
The hike started off meandering through a small valley and about a mile in, went through a small slot canyon with towering rock walls. The trees were full of new spring growth and bright green leaves which against the red rocks, really made it so pretty
There were a few very small streams to cross
We then went back to the house for naps, snacks, pool time, games, dinner, movies, etc.
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The next day we went to Snow Canyon, one of our favorite places in St George as it's very underrated and while most people to go Zion National Park, few go to Snow Canyon State Park, which is fine by us.
We started at the Petrified Sand Dunes. Such a one of a kind landscape and photos don't even come close to showing how beautiful is it. 200 million years ago, this area was full of rolling sand dunes. The sand was blown here over about 10 million years and accumulated here. During this time, the southwestern area of the United States had become very arid due to a relentless drought much of the 10 million years the dunes were being created. There used to be rivers and seas in this area, but during that 10 million years, sand blew in and created the Navajo Erg -the largest dune fields in the history of the Earth - often referred to as the sand dune sea. This dune field stretched from Wyoming to Arizona and Colorado to Nevada. Over the next 120 million years, the sand dunes in this area were covered with newer sand and sediment until they became petrified. Huge earthquakes helped to lift the sand dunes and expose them to what we see now.
There aren't really any trails, you just start walking. It's pretty steep in some places, but the way the sand petrified, it's like steps and pretty easy to climb
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There are some very interesting rock formations
Yep, we did climb to the top where the people are
Time for a picnic lunch
Then we headed over to a very short trail called Pioneer Names. Up on the rockface, some pioneers "wrote" their names in covered wagon axle grease and the names are still visible today
We had a great few days in St George. We swam, ate, napped, movies, popcorn, treats, yummy dinners, hiked, saw amazing things, went to the St George Temple and loved being with each other. The only thing that would have made it better is if Marissa & Matt were with us too!
Here's really good video Hannah whipped up on the way home:
After last spring/summer's hike totaling just one, Shelley was ready to get back to hiking, although with some concern, as we didn't want a repeat of last year. We got her some hiking poles to help, which she said did help and we were able to complete the first hike of the season without any issues. Yeah! Hannah came along too and we missed Jacob and Noah who were studying for a huge test and Aubrie who had some work to do with her photography job.
We went to one of our stand-by hikes, Dry Canyon, as it's pretty short at 2 miles with some steep climbs, great views and very very close.
We had Meghan and Corey and their family come with us too, and all the kids were able to do the hike as well! They did so good!
The parking lot and trailhead are just above a neighborhood, somewhat hidden
We did our own loop, which was only 2 miles total
This was one of the steep parts
Love the big rocks that are on both sides of the trail towards the top of the climb
This is looking back and the two rocks and the opening between the two, which is where the trail is. Utah Lake is in the background
We were probably about a week and half too early to catch all the shrubs in bloom
On the way down, you get a fantastic view of Orem and Provo
The Lindon Temple being built
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This was a great start to the hiking season!! Hopefully many more hikes to come!
