Warner Valley Dinosaur Trackway

After stopping by Fort Pearce, we drove two- three miles down the road to the Warner Valley Dinosaur Tracks.   The road, although dirt, is in good shape and is accessible by passenger car. 

From the parking area, it's maybe a quarter mile walk to the north and east to the trackway. 

The tracks were originally discovered in 1982, and since then other investigations have revealed countless more tracks.  The last investigation identified over 400 tracks and 23 trackways.  Most of the identified tracks are thought to be from Grallators - meat eating dinosaurs about as big as a man. 

The biggest tracks  (my favorite ones at this site) were from Eubrontes- a large meat eater that weighted 750-1000 lbs, and was about 12 feet tall. 

Nearest City: St George, UT
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy
Kid Friendly: Yes
Additional Info:

Fort Pearce

We spent an easy day in the St. George area checking out a few new to us sites.  The first stop was at Fort Pearce. 

The fort is in ruins now, but it used to be a stopping spot for settlers coming from the Arizona Strip to St. George. 

We wandered around it and through the ruins.   Sparse accomodations!  It's not a place that travelers would want to spend an extended period of time at- especially being so close to St. George.  

We then wandered down the Fort Pearce Wash to look for petroglyphs.  There are several boulders and overhangs with petroglyphs in the wash. 

There are also numerous "cowboy glyphs" written in axle grease under the overhangs.  One of my favorite was this one of a bearded Mormon. 

Nearest City: Washington, UT
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy
Kid Friendly: Yes
Additional Info:

Mountain Meadows

We took a trip down to Southern Utah the end of last week.  Boy was it good to get away!  It seems like it's been forever since I've gotten out!  Our first "adventure stop" was at Mountain Meadows. 

Mountain Meadows was the site of  a black spot in the history of Utah.  In 1857, about 120 emigrants from Arkansas heading to California were massacred here, in part by some of the Mormon settlers.  There's a lot of speculation on what happened, including very biased viewpoints slanted both ways, but the fact of the matter is we won't ever know what the situation really was. 

I thought to myself that it's hard to understand why people that had been kicked out of 3 states, persecuted, and had many of their friends killed could do this to others.  But at the same time, it easily could have been such that "We've been kicked out of Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois- we're not moving again".  Either way, the situation was a powderkeg, and the wrong things were said and done by both sides. 

There is now a memorial at the site, with a monument over the bones of the victims.  It's an interesting place to visit that leaves you walking away with a lot of unanswered questions. 

Nearest City: Enterprise, UT
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: 30 minutes- 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy
Kid Friendly: Yes
Additional Info:

The Brigham Young Home

I've been to St. George dozens of times, but had never been to the Brigham Young winter house. We had some time on Sunday afternoon, so stopped by as part of a mellow day.


It was kindof fun to walk through and see the historic home, and see how they lived back in the 1800's.
Really the tour was pretty similar to other tours offered at Mormon historic sites.

Nearest City: St. George, UT

GPS Coordinates: N 37° 06.692 W 113° 35.093

Time Needed: 30 minutes

Difficulty: Yes

Kid Friendly: Yes

Additional Info: Tours are free. Also look at the Historic Homes walk in the area.

Red Cliffs Desert Preserve

We came back to the Red Cliffs Preserve for another hike. This one was a blast in January, and would be even more fun in the summer. The trail generally follows a stream up the bottom of a narrow canyon. Along the way are several small waterfalls, pools, and stream crossings.

The trail starts from the parking area and heads north on the west side of the stream. At first it stays on the bench above the stream and doesn't go to the streambank until the first pool and waterfall.

After the waterfall, the trail once again departs from the streambank, but not for long. Soon it returns to the stream and crosses the stream to the other side.

Each stream crossing could be done by hopping from rock to rock. We didn't need to get our feet wet at all. From this point on, the trail is basically the streambed.
The highlight of the hike is when both rock walls squeeze in close, forming a waterfall. At this point, there are steps cut up the side of one of the walls and a rope for those who want to continue.

Above the steps, the canyon widens out again, before the trail disappears entirely into the stream.

I took my shoes off to go for a cold wade to look around a corner.

I didn't get to see much before my feet were screaming at me because of the chilly water.

This was around the corner:

I couldn't take it any more. The water was too cold, it was January after all. I quickly got back out onto the sandstone, dried my feet, and wandered back down the canyon. What a great hike!

Nearest City: Harrisburg, UT

GPS Coordinates: Parking/Trailhead: N 37° 13.459 W 113° 24.368

Time Needed: 1 hour minimum

Difficulty: Easy

Kid Friendly: YES! Kids would LOVE this hike.

Additional Info: $2/car cost.

The Santa Clara River Petroglyphs

The Santa Clara Petroglphs is a unique and amazing site. The site overlooks the Santa Clara River and contains hundreds of petroglyphs on boulders running along the top of a ridge. The hike isn't too bad, but does contain some rather pointless switchbacks.

We spent at least an hour going from boulder to boulder, looking for new and "cooler" petroglyphs. Some were on top of the rocks, others were located on the sides of them.

Some of the petroglyphs were squiggly lines, others had more understandable forms of animals or people to them. These are several of our favorites:

We really liked the sheep family panel.

Nearest City: Ivins, UT

GPS Coordinates: Trailhead: N 37° 09.750 W 113° 42.373

Petroglyphs: N 37° 09.294 W 113° 42.294 and further south

Time Needed: 2+ hours

Difficulty: Easy-Moderate.

Kid Friendly: Dropoffs & a long hike.

Additional Info:

The Santa Clara River Preserve Site

Another archeological site is northwest of St. George and overlooks the Santa Clara River.

This site doesn't have much to see, other than a sign and a fence. It is a worthwhile stop when combined with the nearby petroglyphs though.

Nearest City:Ivins, UT

GPS Coordinates: Trailhead: N 37° 09.750 W 113° 42.373

Site: N 37° 09.470 W 113° 42.338

Time Needed: 2+ hours (combine with nearby petroglyphs)

Difficulty: Easy-Moderate. May be hot in the summer!

Kid Friendly: Yes, but might not hold their attention

Additional Info:

The Red Cliffs Anasazi Site

The Red Cliffs Desert Reserve covers a lot of area in the St. George area. One popular area is about 20 miles northeast of St. George. It features a campgroud, picnic areas, and several trails. We were able to do 2 of the hikes from this area on our trip.


The Anasazi site is about a 1 mile hike, located on a hill to the east of the campground. We arrived in the evening and nearly had the place to ourselves.
The site has several pit and storage areas, some of which are protected by shelters built over the top of them.

On the ground, and within the pits are countless rock shards created by the knapping of stone tools, and pottery fragments.

Nearest City:Harrisburg, UT

GPS Coordinates: Parking: N 37° 13.459 W 113° 24.368

Trailhead: N 37° 13.438 W 113° 24.262

Site: N 37° 13.405 W 113° 23.982

Time Needed: 1 hour or so

Difficulty: Easy

Kid Friendly: Yes

Additional Info: Bring water in warm weather. Fee: $2

Silver Reef Ghost Town

Silver Reef is a great place to visit. It's a ghost town now, but at one time it was a thriving mining area. It's claim to fame is that it's the only place in the United States that had silver in sandstone.

Only one historic building is still inhabitable- the Wells Fargo Building. The area does have several newer homes that have been built, but several ruins and mining artifacts are scattered in the vicinity. The Wells Fargo building contains an art gallery and museum.

I only remember the Wells Fargo building on earlier visits, but this time we discovered numerous other ruins, some to the north, some across the street, and others to the west of the Wells Fargo Building.
The ruined walls and foundations are all that is left from what once was a decent sized town.

We found where 8 or 9 other buildings once stood.
It was also fun to find other little reminders of what was once here. My favorite was a tin cup that was in a pile of rusted cans.

This looked like part of a mine hoist.

Near the old foundations of what used to be a bar we saw countless glass and ceramic shards.

If you visit, please don't collect artifacts and keep them for remembrances!

Nearest City:Leeds, UT

GPS Coordinates: N 37° 15.192 W 113° 22.025

Time Needed: 1 hour

Difficulty: Easy

Kid Friendly: Yes. Except for the cactus.

Additional Info: