Hiking suggestions for st george

[Sombeech]

Going to St George next week with this biking crowd:
http://uutah.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4950

Hikers are invited to join us as well.

We are looking for cool hikes in Zion or Snow Canyon. We've done Angel's Landing, but may do it again.
I've seen photos of Observation Point(?) where it's looking down into the valley from atop the Zion park. How is this? How long/difficult. We'd like a hike that can be started in the afternoon, to last around 3 hours.

Thanks.

[shagster]

Hey I sent a PM to Tanya asking about some hikes down there, but have not heard back from her. I am thinking that I might try to get a permit to the Wave. I am going to make a phone call before we go down to see what the chances are for Sunday morning or something...

[Sombeech]

Cool, I'm going to check out her site as well

[Sombeech]

I'm looking at Observation Point, but it may be too big of hike for what I'm looking for. About 8 miles. Most of it's paved though, so it might not be too bad.
http://www.zionnational-park.com/zion-observation-point-trail.htm

Incredible views though, more here:

http://www.zionnational-park.com/images/albums/index49.htm

http://www.zionnational-park.com/images/albums/images/observation-point-s_jpg.jpg

http://www.zionnational-park.com/images/albums/images/kk-echo-canyon_jpg.jpg

[Win]

I hike in or around Zion almost every weekend. One hike in Zion that I did recently was the Sand Bench Trail. It's 3+ miles and takes a couple of hours. The trail is used by horses in"season" and is much better for hiking this time of year. It rises about 450 ft and gives some terrific views.

I'll post another suggestion below.

Win

http://www.fototime.com/users/NJedge@aol.com/Zion%20N.P.%20-%

http://www.fototime.com/B6B1E0C64A33EB3/standard.jpg

[Win]

This one is not very well known. Out of Leeds, about 15 miles North of St George there is an area called Little Purgatory. We take a 4WD into the Sand Cove Campground and hike down to the Virgin River. This is mostly in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve. Last week we took the Arch Trail down to the river, bushwacked a little. over to a trail going up to a ridge and hiked back in the general direction of the parking,until we found a trail. This took us 3 hours.

The freestanding Arch is neat and large enough to ride a horse under. When we reached the river we went left and when the path ended we cut uo to the trail on the ridge.

Want ot something easy and fun, do the Johnson Arch Trail in Snow Canyon.

Give me a call if you have any questions about the area. 435/635-4000
The Red Cliffs Reserve has a site and you can print maps for the area, not good for navigation, though:

http://www.redcliffsdesertreserve.com/


Win

Arch at Little Purgatory:

http://www.fototime.com/8016EF1CC3E8AD7/standard.jpg

Virgin River from Little Purgatory:

http://www.fototime.com/C012194064C3958/standard.jpg

A nice Arch on the Virgin, Little Purgatory:


http://www.fototime.com/B338325032981C9/standard.jpg

[Alex]

Hey I sent a PM to Tanya asking about some hikes down there, but have not heard back from her. I am thinking that I might try to get a permit to the Wave. I am going to make a phone call before we go down to see what the chances are for Sunday morning or something...

We are planning on going there on Feb 24th, so far all the prepaid permits are sold out. You have to show up early in the morning at BLM office to get a walk-in permit for the next day. Right now it's not very crowded, so you shouldn't have a problem getting one if you are there a day before.

Tanya hasn't responded to my PMs as well for like 2 days, maybe she is out hiking, last I talked to her was Tuesday.

[shagster]

Hey I sent a PM to Tanya asking about some hikes down there, but have not heard back from her. I am thinking that I might try to get a permit to the Wave. I am going to make a phone call before we go down to see what the chances are for Sunday morning or something...

We are planning on going there on Feb 24th, so far all the prepaid permits are sold out. You have to show up early in the morning at BLM office to get a walk-in permit for the next day. Right now it's not very crowded, so you shouldn't have a problem getting one if you are there a day before.

Tanya hasn't responded to my PMs as well for like 2 days, maybe she is out hiking, last I talked to her was Tuesday.

Thanks for the info. I will have to get my butt out of bed early to try and get there for a permit.