Red Mountain Traverse

The Red Mountain Traverse is a moderate hike from one side of the wilderness area above Snow Canyon to the other. It starts on Red Mountain and ends in Ivin, or vice versa. For most of it you will be on forgotten and sometimes unclear trails alone in beautiful, high-desert juniper hills. There are red sandstone fins and crags spearing up from the washes and hills. The trail is long. There is high sun exposure and constant slogging through sand. An 11 mile shuttle requires two vehicles and an hour more added to accomplish the hike. Riding a bike would be doable but hitch-hiking seems less likely in this area. From St. George, take State Road 18 north, out of town. Pass Snow Canyon. Before you reach Dammeron Valley, there will be a parking lot on the left of the road. That is the trailhead. We started at the Snow Mountain Overlook Trailhead on the plateaus north of St. George. The traverse shares the overlook trail for the first part, which is actually following an old abandoned road from the time before this was a wilderness area. We took the left at the split to the overlook. We figured we'd stop for lunch and enjoy the view. People were frequent as we hiked to the overlook. It is a popular spot for good reason: it is an easy hike that rewards with an incredible view. We came across some form of Chollas cactus, a cactus tree reminiscent of Dr. Seuss plants. We also came across what appear to be fossilized roots in the sand stone. Back at the old sandy road, we continued on past the split. It is a big open plateau. In January there were a few standing pools of water near the Ivin's end. We found some ice and snow. The Temperature was in the 50's. The old road follows within view or quick run of the Snow Canyon rim. There are many great views. Then the old road fades away. The trail is not defined from that point. The route we chose, while it looked decent on the satellite images, the topo map revealed some decent little canyons and cliffs that ended up causing us to meander more than we expected. We had hoped to make a pretty straight shot to the Ivin descent. Instead we dodged and weaved through the terrain. The hike ends on the top of the cliffs above Ivins. The last half a mile is a 1,500' foot drop into town. The Ivin's descent is unmarked and easy to confuse from the top. The descent is a meandering path of least resistance. Once down the first cliff band, it splits. After the second cliff band it becomes a braid of trails going this way and that. The trail ends at the 100 E trail parking (one block west of the Toe Trail parking, but that parking lot would work too). The plateau is beautiful and I really enjoyed the hike. There is a lot of open land up there in that wilderness area. There are great slick rock, cliff, and wash sections. I feel I could spend a lot of time just wandering and exploring. The trail is hard to follow in places and route finding adds a fun element to the hike. As long as you know where you need to end up to get down the cliff, it doesn't really matter how you get there. If you have a friend and can set up the shuttle, you should do this sometime.