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Old 03-04-2015, 04:13 PM   #1
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Leaving Comfortable behind... Snow Canyon State Park/St. George area

Fitness trainers recommend changing up routines after a bit in order to confuse the body’s muscles. If one settles into a set routine, the body adjusts and can fool itself into thinking it’s strong when in reality, it’s in a groove and performs well enough only if the required movement is within its comfort zone. And so it is with life in most cases, therefore we’ve decided to leave our comfort zone in Snow Canyon. Our initial goal was not to just to leave the rat race we were in but to explore new places and experience new conditions; we are excited to finally start our hand at disperse camping. While I don’t pretend to have the experiences (yet) described in, say, Ray Eklund’s post about roughing it, how else does one get that kind of experience other than to get out there. As the great adventurer Yvon Chouinard said, “The word adventure has gotten overused. For me adventure is when everything goes wrong. That’s when the adventure starts.”

Of course I don’t want everything to go wrong or even a little bit wrong but it’s the idea that something could go wrong, that something unknowable lies ahead that excites the brain and the heart. We’ve decided to leave our camp hosting gig in Snow Canyon, hang around a bit and wait 'til the temps lower, and then explore more of Utah via Scenic Byway before moving on to New Mexico.

Can one call a location ‘home’ after only almost five months? You can if it gives back more than you put in. Back in October we were green city folks with just a 20 minute test run in our new used Airstream trailer under our belts, but happy to leave our old southern California city life and the crowds, noise, concrete, lack of open space, and trash that went with it. We had decided to find a location that could offer a sense of being outdoors while still providing a relatively safe cocoon for newbies, and Snow Canyon State Park, Utah fit the bill.

When I say comfortable, I speak of a beautiful little gem of a state park located within 20-30 minutes of grocery stores, hardware stores, RV stores, decent restaurants, a couple libraries, some chain stores, auto repair shops, several very nice exercise gyms, and bike and mountain gear shops, not to mention a couple national parks (Zion and Bryce) and a few other state parks within an hour or two. Here’s a rundown of what we found during our stay here in Snow Canyon for those that are also looking for a comfortable area in which to stay for a period of time:

Snow Canyon State Park is a relatively small park when compared to the much larger Zion National Park but the trails are more accessible and the campground, I think, is in better shape than those found in Zion. I’m of course a bit biased after having worked the campground but the value of the sites ($20 for partial hookups and $16 for non-power sites) coupled with beautiful and quiet canyon trails all within walking distance or a 5-minute drive makes it a destination spot. The walks/hikes are easy to moderate and take one over various terrain - imagine walking over an active sand dune and then 45 minutes later scrambling over petrified (actually lithified) sand dunes. If you have kids, it’s easy to expose them to some geology and the processes of erosion all within an hour; within a space just a bit bigger than Califonia’s Disneyland (but much less expensive), kids can see the remnant of a cinder cone, the cooled lava flows, cross-bedded sand dunes as they hardened over time, and the effects of wind and water upon canyon walls and sandstone outcrops. Our favorite hike in the park is Hidden Pinyon which takes you up and over and through sandstone slabs with some basaltic lava flow sprinkled on top. But the two best hikes are just outside the park: the adjacent Padre Canyon trail lies to the west, accessed from the Tuacahn Amphitheater parking lot, up and over a saddle in the canyon walls and down into a narrow canyon cut by water and complete with ponds and small arches before running into the park’s Three Ponds trail; and Red Mountain Trail, about 5-10 minutes north of the park’s north entrance and intersection with Route 18. Red Mountain Trail is about a 2.5 mile (one way), slightly inclined trail that leads to the Snow Canyon Overlook which is at the north end of Snow Canyon and a few hundred feet above the park’s trails; the trail takes you over some slabby sandstone and ends up in a sand dune with sandstone outcrops that sit on top of the cliff. If you don’t want to stay in the campground, six bucks gets you and your car into the park and access to a wonderful sense of solitude and what early pioneers must have seen for the first time - it’s all still there among the rocks.

We had three really good eating experiences in the area. If you hike the Red Mountain Trail, you can turn back north on Route 18 and drive another ten minutes to a one intersection town, Veyo. It has a pie store that has the best home-made pies in the area and has been around for quite a long time; the hiking can justify the carbs from the pie. For the best pizza, we would drive to Hurricane, about 20 minutes away. The main highway through Hurricane has a Dairy Queen on the north side and opposite that is the Dixie Pizza Wagon - a home-made stone fire oven on a cart. There’s no building, just a cart - the owner, Todd, spent quite a bit of time in Italy, hanging out with master pizza makers and learning the craft of making greaseless thin crusted pizzas, all for $8 to $9. When you finish the pizza, you won’t find any grease on the box. For the best hole-in-the-wall joint, go to the Mongolian BBQ located in the Outlet strip mall off St. George Boulevard and just east of Interstate 15. You grab a bowl, add your own veggies, noodles, and meats, and then hand it over to a cook standing next to a circular grill. There, he and another cook walk around the grill, tossing your mixture back and forth with tongs before swiping it off the grill in one sweeping motion back into a bowl - an interesting show of cooking resulting in a simple but delicious meal.

There are three smaller communities that lie adjacent to St. George: Washington, Ivins, and Santa Clara. Their libraries are interconnected, so you can borrow stuff from them and return it to any of them. We don’t have satellite and so went through the fall and winter watching borrowed episodes of Sherlock, Downtown Abbey, Midsommer Murders, Medium, and Scrubs, not to mention the RV horror story, Lost In America. Hmmm … so much for roughing it.

There are three main grocery stores: Smiths, Lins, and Harmon’s, the latter being close to a Whole Foods store and the most expensive; it also has a nice sit-down area for coffee and eating with free wi-fi.

We have a 6 gig hot spot but we’ve been able to find free wi-fi and our laundromat, the libraries, the local The Habit restaurant, Starbucks, and Harmon’s. We found the best laundromat to be in Washington at the intersection of Telegraph and 300 South, next to a Domino’s; one has to go the extra miles in oder to satisfy the wife’s concerns about clean machines.

The St. George area seems to be a destination spot for active outdoors people and fitness enthusiasts. There are a lot of fine gyms but we chose the Washington Community Center - it’s the cheapest and the largest, with a couple indoor pools, an indoor track, a bunch of basketball/volleyball courts, a gymnastic gym, a rock climbing wall, and a weight room, albeit a relatively small one. You can use the entire gym for $5/day but they also have a 3-month plan and a punch card. A lot of families go there and so if you want to exercise without kids around, you can easily find a smaller but private gym elsewhere.

Snow Canyon and the nearby canyons are a destination spot for rock climbers. Paragon Adventures is probably the go-to outfitter for climbers without equipment and/or local knowledge. Climbing permits are not required inside Snow Canyon. Paragon also runs its bouldering gym in St. George.

Vacation Land is a small RV supply store on Bluff Street, smaller than the large Camping World but I think it has a more experienced staff.

Our two favorite shops for buying clothes and equipment were Simply Birkenstock in Springdale and The Desert Rat in St. George. The former, owned by Frank, has great outdoor clothing, boots, and hats and is located just outside Zion’s south entrance. There’s also a great candy store right next to it. Springdale also has a quite a few nice cafes in which to eat - better than those found in St. George. It also has the cleanest laundromat probably in all of southern Utah. The Desert Rat was our go-to shop for hiking equipment with top-end brands. It also has a pretty decent section of the shop for climbing. Those two shops had all we needed for the outdoor life.

Quail Creek is another state park that lies just outside of Hurricane. It’s $15/night and while it doesn’t offer too much in hiking, it does have a reservoir for fishing and is a quiet, clean campground with fresh water and access to a sewer dump in nearby Sand Hollow State Park. Utah’s state parks have a maximum stay of 14 days within a 30-day period. Jamie and Kevin are the camp hosts during the fall and winter, and do a great job in keeping up the campground.

The St. George area is a clean, quiet, safe, and friendly area. Nobody rejected us once they found out we were southern California emigrants and in fact, welcomed us. We had no problems walking around late at night. The area might be lacking in culture outside of the local Mormon influence but if you’re tired of drama in your life, St. George makes it easy to live a simpler life.

But the thing I’ll miss most are the trails of Snow Canyon. The trails become your friends and they provide the stillness and sense of solitude I wanted so badly while living in southern California. The canyon walls at night reveal natural gargoyles that remind you it’s probably time to get back home to the trailer. The stars and moon at night when it’s full, allow one to hike without a headlamp. The sandstone outcrops have multiple spots on which to just sit and look throughout the canyon; they make it so easy to forget about everything else - just the texture of the canyon walls, the quiet, the wind, and a blue sky overhead. It’s a fine place to call home.
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Old 03-04-2015, 05:03 PM   #2
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Hello westcoastas. Been thinking about you guys, and glad to see you two are having the time of your life. Awesome post, with some great info. We will be there in May, so your post is very meaningful to me, and I'm sure, lots of others around here.
What beautiful pictures. You should frame the one of you two looking out over the canyon. Priceless.
All the best to both of you. Sounds like your souls have been rejuvenated from the rat race of city life. Good luck in your new adventures. Thanks for posting this. You guys are awesome! Love to read about your adventures.
Sea ya down the road,
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Old 03-04-2015, 05:06 PM   #3
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How does working 20 hours/week ...

... and off by noon get your rent and utilities paid?

While living in an Airstream as a volunteer camp host!
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Old 03-04-2015, 05:08 PM   #4
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You've had quite a time, and made a lot of memories.

A very fortuitous beginning to this new chapter in your life.

You are absolutely right.....you've got to get out there and do things. The best way to learn. You can only get so much vicariously.

We used to temper "surprises" in our retirement roaming with "It's all part of the adventure". Keeping a positive spin on things helps you roll with it better.

If you get to central Illinois, send me a pm and we'll get together.

Might get thyselves to the Moraine View rally second weekend in June. There will be lots of great folks there, good conversation and story-swapping, and great food.

So.....keep us posted.


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Old 03-04-2015, 05:14 PM   #5
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Thanks Gavin and Maggie! I meant to say in my first post that we'll be driving Route 12. We've been told it's jaw-dropping around every bend.
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Old 03-04-2015, 05:42 PM   #6
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And on your off days ...

... a trip to Cathedral Gorge across the Nevada state border; Bryce Canyon three hours away; the best darn late night stone-fired pizza west of the Mississippi at the Dixie Pizza Wagon in Hurricane (W-Sa, noon to 8 PM; and no, I don't get a commission); and of course, a visit to Zion National Park - about 30 minutes away.
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Old 03-05-2015, 10:19 AM   #7
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life is good. Love that area....
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Old 05-02-2015, 10:55 PM   #8
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I'm parked at Willowwind in Hurricane, and I'll go ahead and vouch for the Pizza Wagon. Todd makes an amazing pie!!! I too am uprooting to Georgetown, Texas, after a short 6 month stint of hiking and biking the Utah wilderness.

Be safe in your travels!

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Old 05-03-2015, 05:43 AM   #9
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What a fabulous post with lots of great information. Thanks for posting! Have fun on your next adventure!
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Old 05-03-2015, 10:55 AM   #10
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Congrats on your new adventure. Wonderfully written post. And thanks for the info.
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