Overshadowed by Utah's most popular park to the east (Zion), Snow Canyon is another one of those delightful geological samplers. Most likely a national park in any other state, the canyon is tucked in a transition zone between Utah's red rock canyonlands and neighboring Nevada's Great Basin. The landscape at Snow Canyon State Park are made up of colorful sandstone layers and a broad band of black lava. With its wonderland of rock formations, the variety of desert plants and rich blue skies, it's easy to imagine why this land has been selected as a Hollywood film setting.
   Volcanic eruptions flowed down from Lava Ridge, leaving a jagged lava field, honey-combed with lava tubes and caves. Some of the park's 16 miles of trails, wind in and around this large lava bed, while others lead to a more colorful section of the park's side canyon, arches, and hoodoos.
   Located in the suburbs of St. George, the 7500 acre Snow Canyon State Park is being quickly surrounded by modern housing developments. With its stunning rock features and sculpted sand-dunes, the colorful park holds on as a great location for landscape photography, caving, hiking and rock climbing. In case you're wondering the area wasn't named for a coat of winter white, but for the Mormon apostle Lorenzo Snow.

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