Monday, July 14, 2025 Cecret Lake

Cecret Lake from Alta: 

1211 feet elevation gain

hikers:  Mark and Lecia

distance:  5.3 miles

elevation gain:  1,211 feet

This is not a new hike but today we did it as prep for a hike we are doing next week. I wanted to do a hike with 1250 ft elevation gain and this was close. 

This is next to the parking lot and where you start the hike if you are hiking from Alta.  We wanted a longer hike so that is what we chose. 

We started just after 6:30 and the sun was starting to come up, but from where we were we could see it turning the tops of some of the mountains golden but we weren't in the sun.  It was still chilly!

Signs that we were hiking through a ski resort.

The sun was getting higher and illuminating the mountains.

There was construction happening and that required a detour on part of the trail until we got to the Cecret lake trail head by Albion Basin Campground.  This bridge is the beginning of the trail by the campground.

So beautiful! We were still in the shade. There was more water than when we came last year.

Like a woman we greeted as we were passing on the trail said, 

"What a lovely day to be going on a hike".

The moon, that same moon that shone in my window and kept me awake last night, was still visible.

And then the sun was high enough we were walking in full sun.

When we were on the switchbacks to the lake I almost took the wrong turn, or rather didn't take the right turn to the lake, but Mark pointed out the correct way!  

You could have scrambled back to the trail or backtracked from the side trail. It just led to a view of the water coming down from the lake.

Cecret Lake

stunning wildflowers

Almost 3 hours later we were back at the parking lot and the sun was way above the mountain and there were way more people on the trail.  

July 3, 2025

 Bear Canyon Suspension Bridge

length: 2 miles

elevation gain: 400 ft.

hikers: Mark and Lecia

Here it is July and this is the first hike of the summer! We hiked the loop from the Orson Smith Park to the Bear Canyon Suspension Bridge.  It was a pleasant hike and you get some elevation gain on this trail. Not too busy today.

A view of the valley.

A view from higher up on the trail.

Lots of scrub oak.

Almost there.

On the bridge, looking up the canyon.

On the bridge, looking at the valley.

March 1, 2025

 Red Reef Trail, Silver Reef Trail and Dino Tracks

On our way home we stopped at Leeds to hike the Red Reef Trail and while we were there we did the Silver Reef Trail and Dino Tracks.  The Red Reef Trail was awesome!  It was crowded, but even so it was definitely worth the hike!

Red Reef Trail

There is a fee at the parking area ($5 or America the Beautiful Pass) since it is part of the Red Cliffs Recreation Area. It is worth it and you will be lucky to find parking during the busy times! 

All trails says it is 2.2 miles out and back, 219 ft. elevation gain.  Most of the trail is easy but there are some challenging parts, depending on how far you go.  You can stop at any point if the challenge looks like too much.  This is where we ended up and as you can see, it is beautiful!  Really a great hike!

                                           

Here are photos from the entire hike.

  

 

We got to the parking lot about 10 am on a Saturday and there were parking spots available but by the time we left, at about noon, it was full. We followed signs on a well marked trail.

The stairs went up to the rest rooms, a campground, and some other hiking trails.

We followed the signs for the Red Reef trail and it took us across a little bridge and through a picnic area.

The trail is well used and they want you to stay on the path.  The has been restoration work done and so you see a lot of native plants along the way.

We continued on.

You can see there are a lot of people.  There was a large group right behind us that we tried to stay ahead of.

At this point there was a bit of a bottleneck, coming and going.  

I am sure this hike would be different at different times of the year, depending on the waterflow.  I would like to do it in the fall!

Here we are! The trail continues on using the notches you see in the rock.  Someone said there used to be a rope here that was helpful. But its no longer here. There were people continuing on without the rope but we decided to turn back here.

We passed this arched area on our way and you can hike up to it.  There were people there and on the way back there was someone playing a flute. I wasn't close enough to see it but it sounded like a south American/Peruvian pan flute. It was very cool and we were just lucky to be there at the right time to hear it.  

Silver Reef Trail and Dino Tracks

The Silver Reef Trail starts in the campground, near the restrooms.  It is short, less than a half mile to the lookout and back, 111 ft. elevation gain.

We wouldn't have gone out of our way for this hike, but since we were there for the Red Reef Trail and it was close, it was a good addition. 

                                           

Yes, this is the right trail. 

                                           

You head uphill. It is uphill all the way to the look out point.

We came to signs that pointed out the dinosaur tracks.  Otherwise you would miss them.

You also have a view and can see the campground.

What we didn't know is that the dinosaur tracks are a spur from the main trail. So after seeing the dinosaur tracks, we continued on what we thought was the trail, and it was some kind of a trail but eventually the trail was faint and we could see the "trail" wasn't taking us to where we wanted to go.  We continued anyway and scrambled up some rocks and ended up at the lookout area.  As you can see in the photos there are no trees and you can see for a distance, so we weren't lost, we were just off trail!

Wandering off trail and we didn't even realize it!

Views from the lookout area.

Because of our losing the trail we ended up doing a loop but that turned out to be a good way to go!

Friday, February 28, 2025

 3 itty-bitty but worthwhile hike-walks

The stairs at Tech Ridge . Red Hills Desert Garden . Dixie Rock

We didn't exert a lot of energy on hiking today, we did some other things as well like the temple and ice cream, but these walks were all worthwhile. It was 70 degrees and that felt hot out in the sun! 

The stairs at Tech Ridge 

333 stairs

The stairs are fairly new and I had really wanted to do this while we were in St. George.  It appears they are mainly used for exercise and there were quite a few people there. We parked at the bottom, just past a neighborhood of new townhouses. There is a path that starts near the bottom of the stairs that goes up to the Temple Quarry trail head if you want to do that hike.  Or you can drive to that trailhead. We walked over to the stairs from where we were parked and climbed the 333 stairs. At the top there are some benches. We took a walking path to the right. After a ways you can take a path that goes down and end up near the neighborhood so you could to a loop. The St. George Airport used to be at the top of this mesa but they moved it back in 2011 and are developing this area.

This is a bridge we walked over on our walk at the top of the stairs.

Red Hills Desert Garden

This was just a walk but we did it today and it was really good! And free! Very worthwhile. It was in Pioneer Park, where we wanted to do some other things.  This is such a great area to hike and explore. 

Dixie Rock

This was a short hike, not really a hike, but there was some scrambling up the rock. It was .59 miles, which included the walk from the parking lot, and 128 feet elevation gain. Lots of people, and kids hopping around like mountain goats.  It was fun to go up on top of Dixie Rock at sunset.  What a beautiful view of St. George.  You can see both temples.

You climb up a huge rock and cross the bridge to get on Dixie Rock.

The views