Snow Canyon State Park: Pioneer Names Trail

The Pioneer names trail in Snow Canyon is an easy hike to an alcove with ‘acceptable’ graffiti in a state park because it’s over 100 years old and was done by pioneers. It is actually pretty neat. Plus, bonus arch I wasn’t expecting.

Quick Details:

Length: 1/2 mile round trip…. if you do the loop.
Difficulty: DR3 pretty flat and easy.
Elevation Gain: Negligible. Maybe a few feet.
Pets: No. Pets are not welcome on most Snow Canyon trails, but are welcome in the campground.
Restroom: No, however There is restroom just south of the trailhead at the Sand Dunes Picnic Area.
Fee Area: There is a $6.00 dollar (per car) day use fee.
Special Note: Even though this is a short trail, you are in the desert. Be sure you have plenty of water.

After missing the parking lot and making Landis turn the car around I realized there is a north and south trail. The north is a direct approach to the alcove if you just want to see the pioneer names, you can get it done really quickly. However, then you miss the arch that you will pass by on the south trail. Just a heads up.

South trail. Like Jenny’s Canyon the trail is marked off really well so it is easy to follow.

Different looking arch. Kind of looks like a hipbone. If this arch is named, I don’t know what it is because it wasn’t listed anywhere.

It does go all the way through.

And it even has a little window.

Plants man. ‘I’m just gonna grow right here.’ Never ceases to amaze me seeing them growing out of rocks.

This trail is on the east side of the canyon under this big red cliff, so as long as it is not too late in the afternoon you will be in the shade of the cliffs for the most part.

Alcove. Since I wasn’t really sure what I was looking for, and the trail was hidden by a random tree I kind of sat staring at this for longer than I should admit wondering what the big deal was…

Onward through the desert!

More fun alcoves. Almost there, the names are in the smaller one.

Some sort of desert lily.

Which appears to start life as a cold prickly.

Little baby arch.

And the Pioneer Names. These date back 1881 and where written in axel grease.

A little closer with a crop. Looks like the newest acceptable one was Sam Gubler in 1919. There also appears to be some more recent additions that look like they have tried to remove. Sigh.

I saw this image not too long ago, and (while I am unsure if Douglas Adams actually said it) I agree totally, but I feel the same way about natural stuff. If it was like that before I experienced it, its just the way it is. If they mess it up afterwards, then I lose my mind. (I skip step 2 for nature stuff). Suicide Rock in Salt Lake comes to mind as something that should be an abomination that I am okay with, because it’s always been that way. However, if people tag other areas of nature it makes me really angry. I don’t know, it’s kind of hard to describe.

Both alcoves. Well now we could go the 500 feet or so to the north trailhead and walk down the road back to the car… or just go back the way we came. We opted for the latter.

Looking down the canyon.

The trail goes right next to this cliff, where this tree decided to grow which is what threw me off earlier.

Inside an alcove we didn’t notice on the way in. After seeing a spider web I suddenly wondered if there are tarantulas down here. I mean, it is the desert right? Well… we didn’t see one in the park, but that particular question was answered this evening when we found one at Tuacahn.

Well that was a neat little trail with some great history and a nice little arch and some other desert fun. It’s a little lackluster compared to other nearby trails so I am going to finalize on 8 out of 10 squirrels.

As for difficulty, I am going with a DR3. Its really short and easy to do.And you can choose to make it even shorter if you decide you want to.

Dogs are not allowed on this trail. They are allowed in the campground and a few trails, just not this one.