Skip to main content

2016 Fall Mountain Trip Part 10; Utah State Route 8, Snow Canyon State Park, and Utah State Route 34

Picking up from the previous blog I pulled off of UT 18 on to Utah State Route 8 on Sunset Boulevard in western St. George to head towards Snow Canyon State Park.


This blog is Part 10 in the 2016 Fall Mountain Trip Series, Part 9 can be found here:

2016 Fall Mountain Trip Part 9; Interstate 15 through the Virgin River Gorge

UT 8 is a small 1.3 mile State Highway running from UT 18 on Sunset Boulevard west to Dixie Downs Road.  UT 8 is part of the former routing of US 91 which continued west as what is now signed as "Old Highway 91" to the Arizona State Line.  In 1973 US 91 was deleted south of Brigham City, UT which removed Sunset Boulevard from the State Highway System.

USends.com on US 91

This 1950 Utah State Highway Maps shows how US 91 entered Utah from Arizona and reached St. George which would include the alignment of UT 8.

1950 State Highway Map

In 1972 UT 300 was commissioned south from UT 18 above the rim of Snow Canyon to the southern State Park Boundary.  UT 300 was likely never signed within Snow Canyon as it is common UDOT practice to maintain small roadways unsigned in State Parks.  In 1991 the Utah Transportation Commission authorized UT 8 to be designated over all of existing UT 300 pending improvements south of Snow Canyon State Park.  Roadways included into UT 8 were routed from UT 18 over Sunset Boulevard, through Santa Clara to 200 East, and Center Street in Ivins to UT 300 at Snow Canyon Drive.  Once the new UT 8 was completed in 1996 it absorbed all of UT 300 north to looping back to UT 18.  Oddly UT 8 was truncated to Dixie Downs Road in 1999 which apparently was requested by the Utah Division of Parks and Recreation.

As stated above I started my approach to Snow Canyon State Park via UT 8 on Sunset Boulevard headed west from UT 18.



I took UT 8 to it's terminus at Dixie Downs Road and headed north to Snow Canyon Parkway.  Really the original alignment of UT 8 through Ivins wasn't exactly the most logical in retrospect.  Soon I found myself at the gate of Snow Canyon State Park on Snow Canyon Drive.






Snow Canyon has been a State Park since 1958 and is sandstone canyon similar to Zion Canyon.  Snow Canyon gets it's name from local settlers Lorenzo and Erastus Snow.  Snow Canyon ranges in elevation from about 3,100 feet at the bottom to a peak elevation of 5,023 feet above sea level on the rim.  Snow Canyon State Park has various hiking trails and even has pink sand dunes which are easily accessed from the rapidly ascending Snow Canyon Drive.




After trying a few trails I made my way north through Snow Canyon Park on Snow Canyon Drive to UT 18.







From UT 18 there is a small dirt access road to Panorama Point which overlooks Snow Canyon from the northern rim.



From Snow Canyon I took UT 18 south to UT 34 in St. George.  UT 34 is a small 2.15 mile State Highway running entirely on East St. George Boulevard from UT 18 east to I-15.  Much like UT 8 all of UT 34 was part of US 91 before it was truncated in 1973.



After completing UT 34 I jumped on I-15 briefly to UT 9 to head east towards Zion National Park.


Part 11 of this blog series can be found here:

2016 Fall Mountain Trip Part 11; Zion National Park and Utah State Route 9/The Mount Carmel Highway

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

US Route 101 in Benbow, Garberville and Redway

The communities of Benbow, Garberville and Redway can all be found along US Route 101 within southern Humboldt County.  The former surface alignment of US Route 101 in Garberville and Redway once crossed the Garberville Bluffs along what is now Redwood Drive via a corridor constructed as part of the Redwood Highway during the 1910s.  US Route 101 through Benbow, Garberville and Redway was modernized by 1935.  US Route 101 would eventually be upgraded to freeway standards in Benbow, Garberville and Redway by extension of the Redwood Freeway during 1966-68.  As the cover photo the original grade of US Route 101 and the Redwood Highway can be seen at the Garberville Bluffs during 1934.  US Route 101 can be seen in the communities of Benbow, Garberville and Redway on the 1935 Division of Highways Map of Humboldt County .   The history of US Route 101 in Benbow, Garberville and Redway Benbow, Garberville and Redway lie on the banks of the South Fork Eel River of southern Humboldt County.  D

Highways in and around Old Sacramento; US 40, US 99W, CA 16, CA 24, CA 70, CA 99, CA 275, and more

This past weekend I was visiting the City of Sacramento for a wedding.  That being the case I decided to head out on a morning run through Old Sacramento, Jibboom Street Bridge, I Street Bridge, Tower Bridge, and path of US Route 40/US Route 99W towards the California State Capitol.  My goal was to retrace the paths of the various highways that once traversed the Old Sacramento area. This blog is part of the larger Gribblenation US Route 99 Page.  For more information pertaining to the other various segments of US Route 99 and it's three-digit child routes check out the link the below. Gribblenation US Route 99 Page The old highway alignments of Sacramento The City of Sacramento lies at the confluence of the Sacramento River and American River in Sacramento Valley.  Sacramento Valley was discovered by Spanish Explorer Gabriel Moraga in 1808.  Moraga referred to the fertile Sacramento Valley akin to a "Blessed Sacrament."  By 1839 John Sutter Sr. settled in Mexican held

Old Stage Road in Tulare County and Kern County

Old Stage Road is an approximately 30-mile rural highway comprised of Tulare County Mountain Road 1, Kern County Mountain Road 447 and Tulare County Mountain Road 109.  Old Stage originates at Jack Ranch Road near Posey and ends at the outskirts of Porterville at Deer Creek.  Old Stage Road notably is comprised of two 19th Century stage routes.  From White Mountain Road northwest to Fountain Springs, Old Stage Road overlays Thomas Baker's 1860s era stage road to Linn Valley (now Glennville) and the Kern River Gold Rush Claims.  From Fountain Springs to Deer Creek, Old Stage Road is comprised of the 1853 Stockton-Los Angeles Road. Featured as the blog cover is the northward descent on Old Stage Road along Arrastre Creek to the town site of White River.  What became White River was settled along a spur of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road as "Dog Town" when gold was discovered nearby.  By 1856 the community had been renamed Tailholt.  A stage road from Tailholt to Linn Valley w