Arch Trail

From December through April one of the best places to hike is on one of the many trails of the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve. Because of its low elevation the temperatures are typically ideal and on sunny days sunscreen can be necessary. Along with prime weather conditions the winter is a great time to see many of the raptor species that migrate south during the winter.

The section of the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve just south of Leeds, is one of best places to, as the saying goes, get bang for your buck. What you will find along Arch trail is amazing examples of weathering, erosion, the Virgin River, and if you are willing to do a little exploring ample opportunities for contemplation and solitude.

Drive 3 miles south down Babylon Road to the Sand Cove parking area. The Sand Cove Parking area is the second major parking area along Babylon Road. Be advised that Babylon Road is sandy in places and a high clearance vehicle is suggested but not required. Driving past the Sand Cove parking area is a little more sketchy.

The main attraction for most is the large free standing arch through which the trail passes and many hike to the arch and turn around. That is a shame as there is much more to see near. Don't be afraid to get off the trail in places, be careful of the crypto bionic soil by staying on the sandstone, and explore the area. To be found are some very eye pleasing examples of weathering and erosion. The soft sandstone has been eroded to form many different land formations including pinnacles, red rock hoodoos and arches. Just past the arch there is also access to the Virgin River.

The four mile Arch trail is an easy hike that the whole family can enjoy in anywhere from two hours to an all day adventure, and is ranked as moderate to moderately strenuous, only because of a large sandhill just prior to arriving at the arch. Other than that it there is relatively little elevation change. There are a few places where the youngsters may need a hand to climb up and down the slickrock, but in general they should be able to hike the majority of the trail on their own. One word of caution even though there are several signs it is somewhat easy to get a little turned around so make sure you make a good mental map and often gather your bearings.

Red Reef Trail

RED REEF TRAIL

The wife and her sisters planned on taking their mother to lunch and movie for mothers day today. As I heard their plans my mind instantly began to think how the mouse could play (you know when the cats away the mice will play) Originally I planned on a fishing trip somewhere but when that fell through I quickly came up with alternate plans. I called Cory Darwin and asked if he wanted to go on a hike and of course he said yes. We set out in the late afternoon and drove to the red reef trailhead/cottonwood wash trailhead.

Quickly we dropped into the wash which led to a fantasy world of unique redrock erosion. Many hikes I enjoy but would never rehike due to the vast amount of other unhiked hikes. I can honestly say I would return to this place. The formations we saw were indescribable, the solitude magnificent and both of these are in largely due to cottonwood canyon wilderness area designation.

I am so thankful for wilderness areas. Having such a designation keeps out many who would treat such a fragile area like it was their off road playground. Not having to hear the sounds, nor eat the dust of atv's, rhinos, etc makes the experience even better. The area we explored was pristine and much of that is due to not allowing mechanized vehicles in the area. I compare wilderness to the fishing regulations at Kolob Reservior. There are many places bait fisherman can fish in Southern Utah, in fact most are open to such fisherman. Kolob on the other hand is one of the few places where a fly fisherman can get away from the masses of stationary fisherman and practice his sport. Also due to such regulations Kolob also lacks the all night partiers because they oddly enough are also bait fisherman. Not all bait fisherman are partiers but for some reason drunkards are all bait fisherman :} Like Kolob, there needs to be some places where seekers of solitude can find such. Where people can leave civilization behind and not have to worry about stumbling across environmental destruction, and sound pollution from the same partiers who would be at Kolob if there were not any regulations. For me these areas are often called wilderness and things worth while one must work to find. I do feel sorry for those off road enthusiasts who follow the rules they truly are the losers in the whole wilderness debate.

Sorry about my little rant but back to the trail. The icing on the cake was when we saw, actually almost stepped on, a huge king snake and then finally found an elusive and famous Red Cliffs Desert Reserve Tortoise. We did an saw all of this in 2 hours hiking and 15 minutes driving from Hurricane!

Also thank you Cory for the photos! I arrived minus memory card thus didnt take any pics. Also check out the Cory Reese (my bro's say he looks like Steve-O so check it out for yourself) blog at coryreese.blogspot.com

Cottonwood Canyon Wilderness Area

Last week I met with my Doctor for an annual checkup (I do this because if I dont my insurance deductible will go up) To my dismay I gained 13lbs last year and basically was chastised by the doctor. He informed me I was a fatty and was darn near considered to be the O word (obese). Even though I am now officially fat, I left quite happy, that meant I have even more excuses to go hike for the "I need to lose weight excuse." I quickly used this excuse when my good friend Collin and his wife Michan came to visit. We (Renee, Collin, Michon, and myself quickly decided, well mostly me, to explore the Cottonwood Canyon Wilderness Area (CCWA) in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve (RCDR) The CCWA I believe was part of the much needed Omnibus Wilderness Bill that passed through Congress and was signed by the President earlier this year and surely deserves such recognition.

Good ole Colin Cleaner climbing up on the red slickrock

This was a cool bizarre deep red rock in the middle of the not so deep red slickrock

Hiking in the CCWA is something all solitude seekers should do. While initially we found ourselves almost surrounded by other hikers (various trails start and end in the same place) we quickly left behind civilization and found ourselves immerged in tranquility! One of the coolest aspects of this hike was the amazing rocks, and when I say rocks I dont mean red, sandstone cliffs, but actually small rocks. Unique colors and patterns graced our eyes as we, well only Michon and myself (Renee and Collin may have enjoyed them but didnt express the same emotions for rocks) hiked along the wash. After several miles it became time to turn around and instead of hiking back the same way we took an alternate trail up, around, down, and through the wilderness area. This was a more exciting method of returning to our vehicles and provided great views of the RCDR all around us, Zion, Hurricane, and LaVerkin to the east and Pine Valley to the north.

(Above) The view of CCWA

This rock had all these crazy perfect circles(above)

I didn't mention but the wildflowers were out of control. It was very pretty, and I know if my brothers read this they will make fun of me but hey whats wrong with a man enjoying flowers?
Cool little arch

All and all a relaxing day in a fun wilderness area! Someday I would like to hike further up the wash to see what is up canyon.

Red Cliffs Desert Reserve- Arch Trail

Due to the crazy amounts of snow the upper elevations of Southern Utah have received over the last two weeks I was left scrambling to find a new place to hike during the cold, snowy winter months and boy did I find it. In practically my back yard one can find peace, beauty and even natural free standing arches. During my research (thank you SCC for paying me to browse the internet) I found mention of a free standing arch. Basically all I found was one brief trail description and a couple pictures, but I decided that I would find this arch during my xmas break (thank you state of Utah and Washington County for giving me a two week xmas break this year!) Trevor and I made a quasi-attempt earlier this week but due to a snow/rain storm our excursion was cancelled. Luckily for me I did not give up hope but rather set out by myself on a cold December morning. Because of the lack of information of how to find this arch I found myself accidentally parking about 1-2 miles away from the trailhead, being lost for most of the time, finding myself somewhat stuck with the only option of sliding down a ten foot slab of slickrock, and scraping my knuckles up!!! But with a little determination I eventually found the needle in the haystack. While the arch isnt very large, it is still impressive, especially for southwestern Utah. It is somewhat reminiscent of delicate arch although on a much smaller scale. Once I found the arch, I also found the trail out, which was much easier and faster than my scramble down the mountain trail.