After the brief detour to Mountain Meadows, we got back on the road en route to our real destination- Cathedral Gorge.
Cathedral Gorge is basically the sediment deposit of an old lake that is slowly eroding. The walls of the canyon have all sorts of pretty neat forms and spires. There are also countless small "slot canyons" that wind back into the canyon wall. Although they're not very long, the close walls and sculpted heights are amazing. We spend several hours wandering into and out of the small canyons and playing on the rock mounds. It's definitely a kid's paradise.
The lighting in some of the canyons was difficult, but some of the pictures turned out alright.
We had intended to do a loop and visit here, the Lost City Museum, and Valley of Fire State Park, but it ended up being such a cool area we decided to truncate the loop and spend most of a day in the Panaca/Caliente area. We still weren't able to see/do everything and I'm thinking that it would be a great little spot to come back to and spend a few days playing in the dirt, soaking in some hot springs, digging trilobites, visiting ghost towns, and finding petroglyphs.
Nearest City: Panaca, NV
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: Cathedral Gorge is about 2 hours from St. George, 1.5 hours from Cedar City, or 2 hours from Vegas. You could spend several hours at the State Park, and find plenty of other things to do nearby to fill up several days.
Difficulty: Easy
Kid Friendly: Yes
Additional Info:
Lincoln County Nevada Tourism
Awesome, I'd never even heard of this place. Is this suitable for a winter trip when Utah is a bit cold? Sarah and I spent a week in Death Valley in Feb one time and it was great-- sometimes fleece weather, but usually short-sleeve.
ReplyDeleteJohn- define winter! It was beautiful in mid November- I'd give it the rough equivalent to mid October in northern Utah. So maybe January/February would be out, but early spring and late fall appear to be an excellent time.
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