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West Canyon Road (Snow Canyon State Park)

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West Canyon Road is an approximately four-mile dirt service road located in Snow Canyon State Park.  West Canyon Road follows Snow Canyon from the Whiptail Trail to the northern State Park boundary and intersects numerous trailheads.  West Canyon Road was the original main road through Snow Canyon after it was designated as a Utah State Park in 1957 and opened to the public in 1962.




Part 1; the history of West Canyon Road

Snow Canyon is located in the Red Mountains north of the city of Ivins in Washington County, Utah.  Snow Canyon is one of many sandstone canyons located in the Red Mountains.  Part of the extinct Santa Clara Volcano punctured the Red Mountains via lava tubes.

From approximately the year 200 to 1,250 the area around Snow Canyon was inhabited by the Ancestral Puebloans.  Mormon pioneers established Santa Clara south of Snow Canyon in 1854.  Local legend has it that the settlers discovered Snow Canyon in the 1850s while searching for missing cattle. 

Washington County newspapers referenced Snow Canyon (then Johnson Canyon) being used for recreational purposes by 1871.  By the 1880s the canyon had become popular as a local hiking destination for much of Washington County.  

Ivins was settled south of Snow Canyon by Swiss settlers during the 1920s.  The Ivins town plot lined Center Street eastward with the roadway to Snow Canyon.  Ivins would incorporate as a city during 1935.  

Center Street in Ivins can be seen entering Snow Canyon on the 1954 United States Geological Survey map.  The roadway is shown entering Snow Canyon and branching away slightly to the east to a cluster of lava tubes.  



In 1957 Snow Canyon was added as one of the first Utah State Parks.  In 1959 Washington County would donate 296 acres of land to the State Parks Commission which was added to Snow Canyon State Park.  The State Parks Commission would construct facilities including a roadway through Snow Canyon (now known as West Canyon Road) before dedicating it for public use in 1962.  

West Canyon Road was always a dead-end corridor and largely inadequate for facilitating through access through Snow Canyon State Park.  Snow Canyon Drive was commissioned in 1972 as Utah State Route 300 from Utah State Route 18 southward to the park boundary near Ivins.

The junction of Snow Canyon Road and West Canyon Road can be seen located at 3,250 feet above sea level on the 1986 United States Geological Survey map.


Snow Canyon Drive was absorbed by a then new Utah State Route 8 when it was designated in 1991 and extended through Ivins. Utah State Route 8 was later truncated to existing only St. George in 1999.

West Canyon Road is now restricted to most vehicles aside from Snow Canyon State Park maintenance. The roadway is accessible to hikers and cyclists west from the Sand Dunes Picinic Area and Whiptail Trail.



Part 2; a ride on West Canyon Road

These photos were taken heading northbound West Canyon Road from the Whiptail Trail. Numerous trailheads are accessible from the gravel roadway as it climbs through Snow Canyon. Occasionally stray asphalt strips can be observed jutting through the gravel which suggest West Canyon Road was once partially paved.















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