Just a few weeks ago Annie asked if I'd like to go to St. George. Of course I would, I thought. Who wouldn't want to go to St. George in February? My sibsprother Mike was heading to St. George to ride his bike with a group that he rides with sometimes. He'd just be going alone and would have an extra bed in the hotel room. While he went out riding I could hike. It was a perfect situation.
The perfect situation got a little complicated with the addition of an enormous rain storm blowing through the area. The weather became the most important issue of the weekend; we had to try to avoid the rain and wind as much as possible, and for me especially there was the possibility of flash flooding in the canyons I'd be hiking in.
I spent weeks trying to determine the right hikes for the weekend. I wanted to hike in the same general area where Mike was riding so we wouldn't have to drive all over southern Utah to make things work. For the first day (Thursday) I decided to hike the Red Reef trail, and connect onto the Prospector trail, returning to the road to the Red Cliffs Recreation Area where the hike had started.
To get to the Red Cliffs Recreation Area we exited at exit #22 (probably). It was the Leeds exit, and there were signs for the RCRA. The signs led us under the freeway. There wasn't much room to get through as you can see above. What you might not be able to see is all the tumbleweeds that half blocked the tunnel. The wind was blowing pretty hard, and it was raining on and off.
Right near the trailhead I saw this sign. I think it was for cars, but it made me a bit more aware that there was the possibility of flash flooding up this canyon and I'd need to be careful.
Mike dropped me off and I buckled my pack and started up the trail. It was very easy to follow and not very steep at all. There was plenty to see: red cliffs, near-arches, spectacular formations.
I made a deal with myself that I would continue up the trail as long as there was someplace I could climb to higher ground if the water started to rise. I was able to do that for 3/4 of a mile or so, and then I reached the pools.
I had come to a spot where you have to climb up into a bowl mostly filled with water, and climb out on the other side. The walls on both sides were easily 30' tall and straight up. There was no escape. To make it just that much more intimidating it was impossible to see upstream. The stream took a sharp turn as it dropped into the bowl.
In the end, I just couldn't justify the risk. I'm sure nothing would have happened, but not knowing the trail above that point, and not being in the area long enough that day to know where rain had been falling, it just wasn't a risk I was willing to take.
And I knew that a mile or so down the road I could pick up the Prospector Trail. I knew this because that's where I had planned to end the hike. The only problem was that I didn't know how far I'd have to go on the Prospector Trail before I could get to a place to be picked up. The trail mostly followed the freeway so I told myself I could just hop the fence and get to the freeway that way if needed.
On the first part of the journey, I was looking at all the life. There were plants and birds and rocks and things. There was sand, and hills, and rings. It seemed very much like hiking in the desert. The trail stayed pretty flat the whole way; there were ups and downs, but no sustained climbing. I'd heard that it's a popular mountain biking trail, but I didn't see any mountain bikers on it. Not one. The rain probably kept them away. It rained on and off for the first couple hours. At one point I was more wet than dry, but that didn't last long.
I'd read something about the Prospector Trail linking up with the Church Rocks Trail, but I didn't know how people accessed the Church Rocks Trail. (The above picture is of some of the church rocks area.) I had to pull out my phone and do some searching to find a trail that would get me back to the other side of the freeway.
I came across a website that said that the best access to Church Rocks was from the Coral Hills subdivision at Heritage Park. The directions were to ride from the park on the trail along the freeway to the water tank at the top of the hill, then ride down the other side of the hill and cross I-15 through a creepy culvert. I just had to reverse the directions and do it all on foot. At this point I was coming up on 9 miles and it looked like the water tank was another mile away.
While I was trying to figure all this out the skies cleared up and it turned into a spectacular day. The only complaint I have about hiking in St George is the lack of clouds. I've never seen a cloud there in all the times I've visited. I don't want the clouds for shade; I want the clouds to add some personality to my pictures.
You can see the water tank in the picture above. It's actually on a hill behind the hill you see there.
There's a closer shot, along with the freeway in front of it.
I just had to get through that culvert first. It was spooky. On a mountain bike you could just ride through it in seconds. On foot it was nearly 200 feet long and it sounded like there were mice running around. The whole flash flood thing was still on my mind, too, with each and every step.
I made it through, and climbed up to the top of the the hill with the water tank just to climb back down the other side. I didn't realize it would still be a mile before I could get to a road to be picked up.
In all, I walked 11.5 miles and climbed 1200' with all the ups and downs. Just hiking the Prospector Trail starting from the Red Cliffs Recreation Area road to the Coral Hills subdivision would be a couple miles shorter. It ended up being a beautiful day and a great start to the weekend.
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