HIKE TO: Hidden Pinyon TRAIL: Hidden Pinyon Trail MILES: 1.69 mi TIME: 1 hr DATE I WENT: 12/15/19 DIFFICULTY: easy ELEVATION GAIN/ LOSS: 146 ft HIKE PERMIT: no ENTRANCE FEE/ PARKING: yes PET FRIENDLY: no LOCATION: Snow Canyon State Park, St. George, Utah
If you’re short on time but want to get a hike in to a beautiful viewpoint in the Southwest US, Hidden Pinyon Overlook in Snow Canyon State Park is perfect. The Hidden Pinyon Trail is only 1.6 miles total, easy and flat, and can be done as an out-and-back day hike or you can make it a loop.
Hidden Pinyon Hike Video
St. George is a fast-developing area, only an hour outside of the famous Zion National Park, and surrounded by 4 state parks including this one (click to read more). The park requires an entrance fee of $5-10.
Hidden Pinyon Trail Report
Trailhead: The hike starts across the street near Snow Canyon Campground and there is a parking lot on Snow Canyon Road at (37,2019462, -113.6421721). The trail starts on a paved road with options for Red Sands, Hidden Pinyon, and Whiptail. Follow signs for Hidden Pinyon and the trail junction will be just a few feet ahead on your left – it’s a dirt trail from here on out.
The Hidden Pinyon trail is mostly flat until the end where there’s just a little bit of elevation gain, but it’s less than 100 ft. The trail navigates through and around large red rocks, is completely exposed, and ends at an overlook of Snow Canyon, but different and not to be confused with the actual Snow Canyon Overlook.
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If you make it a small loop on the way back, the views are slightly elevated so it offers a different view. The trail also extends to the sand dunes but it got too cold and late after sunset so we didn’t get to check it out.
Fun fact: I actually did this trail twice in one day. I went with a large group of rad women in the morning and it snowed hard so we left over halfway through… but made it back with half the group for sunset with much better weather later that afternoon 🙂
Hidden Pinyon GPX track:
I’m starting to write about my Southwest US adventures more – What trails do you want to see on my blog? Let me know in the comments below 🙂
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