Cathedral Gorge - NV State Park
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Off the Beaten Path in Nevada
If you are looking for that sort of adventure that takes you away from the crowds and into an incredibly unique scenery, Nevada’s Cathedral Gorge State Park should be on your list of places to visit. Cathedral Gorge is very accessible. There are two entrances, both right off of US-93, but it’s a bit out in the middle of nowhere, so it requires a drive from anywhere, as well as some thoughtful planning ahead to make sure you have enough food and water.
My boys and I traveled here during the pandemic, in March 2021, so I was specifically looking for a place like this - beautiful, hidden, spacious, quiet, and a fun place to climb around in the rocks. We had the park to ourselves, and I mean to ourselves. Other than a park ranger, we didn’t pass anyone. We enjoyed a nice 4.5 mile hike around the park, and had a great time playing in the “caves” which I would describe more as slot canyons.
Cathedral Caves - Cathedral Gorge State Park
Planning Your Trip
I would consider Cathedral Gorge a smaller State Park. If you combine all of the trails (excluding the caves), it’s only 4.5 miles, and exploring all of the caves just adds another half mile. We spent about four hours in the park and felt like we saw and did everything available, including talking with a park ranger for awhile about the Ichthyosaur dinosaur (and Berlin Ichthyosaur State Park - which is definitely on my list for another trip).
A half day is all you really need to spend here, unless you’d like to stay in the campground. Planning your trip is pretty easy - it’s just figuring out where to spend the night and which trail(s) you want to hike.
Miller Point - Cathedral Gorge State Park
Where to Stay
Your lodging options are a bit limited, as I said before, this is way off of the normal path most people take when they travel to or within Nevada. There is a super small town nearby, Panaca, where you may be able to find a rental and there is a small market. Your more likely options are Cedar City (90 minute drive one-way), St. George (1.75 hour drive one-way), or Las Vegas (2.5-3 hour drive one-way). Personally, I think that’s too long of a day driving back-and-forth from Las Vegas, so I’d recommend one of the other two cities, or camping in the park.
Cedar City has hotels and restaurants, but it’s much smaller than St. George. Cedar City is closer to Kanarra Falls and the Kolob Canyon entrance to Zion National Park. St. George is closer to Snow Canyon and Sand Hollow State Parks, as well as the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area and the Yant Flats. Both cities are about the same distance from the Springdale entrance to Zion National Park, but if you are heading there for more than a day, I would recommend moving to a hotel in Springdale to avoid the traffic.
I’ve stayed in Cedar City once and St. George twice, and I prefer St. George, simply because it’s bigger and a nice place to re-stock on groceries and other supplies. This is a link to a post I’ve written about planning a vacation in St. George.
Other Logistics
Another important consideration if you are planning a trip to Cathedral Gorge State Park is food. As there aren’t any nearby cities, you are out of luck for nearby fast food. Unless you want to buy food from a gas station, this is a pack-it-in, pack-it-out sort of adventure.
Cathedral Gorge is at 4,800ft in elevation, so it’s a significantly different climate than Las Vegas. This means it can snow in the winter, and the summer is going to be hot, but not as unbearable as Las Vegas. We had fantastic weather in March - no snow, and we hiked most of the day in sweatshirts.
Lastly, this park doesn’t have too much for vegetation, so shade is hard to come by on the trails. Bring sunscreen and plenty of water.
Hiking
Below is our hiking map taken from the GAIA app that I labeled with the trail names. If you want to see the best parts of the park with as few as steps as possible, check out the caves - Cathedral, Canyon, and Moon Caves, and then drive back out of the park, head north on US-93, and turn left. There’s another parking lot by Eagle Point trail. Check out the views from Eagle Point and Miller Point. I think Miller Point is the prettiest part of the entire park.
If you want to hike the whole park like we did, park near the Cathedral caves. Follow the Miller Point Trail (orange) up the steps to Millers Point and then out to Eagle Point (blue) and back. A portion of this trail follows the road. Then had back down the steps and enjoy the Juniper Draw Loop (maroon). Hit the caves when you get back to your car. You will need to move your car to see Canyon and Moon Caves unless you want to walk out along the road as a spur from the Juniper Trail. This entire hike is 4.5 miles with an elevation gain of 256ft. The elevation gain comes mostly from the steps that you need to walk up to get to Miller Point.
Cathedral Gorge - NV State Park
1 - Miller Point Trail, 2 - Eagle Point Trail, 3 - Juniper Draw Loop, 4 - Cathedral Caves, 5 - Canyon and Moon Caves
Miller Point Trail
1.0 miles (out-and-back) total / elevation gain 200ft
View from the Cathedral Cave Parking Lot
The main road you drive into park along, the caves, and Juniper Draw Loop are all at the bottom of the canyon. Miller and Eagle Points are at the top of the canyon. From a hiking perspective, the best trail in the park is the Miller Trail, since it starts at the bottom and goes up to the top, so you not only get to walk through the canyon, you get to enjoy it from all sides. It’s a stunning trail.
Miller Point Trail
The rocks feel like hard dirt and crumble easily in your hands, so stay on the trail to prevent unintended erosion. The only place I’ve seen rocks similar to this in how they feel and the intricate patterns cut out by the wind is in Badlands National Park in South Dakota. If you enjoy your time here, I would highly recommend a trip to the Badlands, which is several fold bigger than Cathedral Gorge, and I’ve included the link to my hiking post at the end of this article.
Miller Point Trail
There are multiple bridges along Miller Trail, and as the trail goes up into the canyon, you’ll walk up metal steps that I’m assuming were installed due to erosion of the trail over time. When you get up into the canyon and look back, you’ll be impressed by the engineering design of this trail.
Walking up into the canyon along Miller Trail, and looking backwards down the trail
As you get closer to Miller Point, there are more stairs.
Hiking up to Miller Point and looking back at the trail
Below is the beginning part of Miller Point Trail as viewed from the top.
View of the steps to get up to Miller Point - Cathedral Gorge State Park
Yes, there are a lot of steps, but it’s a gorgeous hike, and this canyon is pretty small. It’s only a moderately difficult hike.
View from Miller Point
Miller Point is formally marked by this structure. You can see the steps leading down the trail in the background. If you choose not to hike from the bottom, you can still get to this point from the second entrance to the park by Eagle Point.
Miller Point - Cathedral Gorge State Park
Eagle Point Trail
0.8 miles (out-and-back) total / elevation gain - 50ft
Most of the Eagle Point Trail is a flat, and relatively non-scenic part of the park
The trail to Eagle Point is short and flat, easy and accessible. The walk out to the point itself isn’t very exciting, but the viewpoint is definitely worth the minimal effort.
Views of Cathedral Gorge from the Eagle Point Trail
This is the ta-dah moment that makes Eagle Point Trail a worthy trail to walk. It’s amazing!
View from Eagle Point
Juniper Draw Loop
3.0 mile loop / elevation gain 100ft
Heading to the Juniper Draw Loop from Miller Point
The Juniper Draw Loop Trail is another easy trail, mostly flat, that goes along the bottom of the canyon. There are some beautiful views along the trail, as well as lots of moments where the trail sort of meanders to get to the next part of the canyon.
Views along the Juniper Draw Loop trail
Lucky for us, that dark cloud didn’t ever rain on us, but made for an amazing picture!
More views of the canyon walls from Juniper Draw Loop
I liked the Juniper Draw Loop Trail. The boys and I chatted the whole way. Hiking as a family is a fantastic way to get your kids to talk with you as there isn’t anything else to do.
Juniper Draw Loop
You will end up right back at your car, where you can now spend some time exploring those “caves” or slot canyons.
Juniper Draw Loop
Cathedral Caves
200ft / elevation gain - N/A
Had to include the social distancing sign to mark the period of our lives that we travelled here. The canyons were narrow, but there wasn’t anyone else here
The map calls these “Caves” but the signs call them “slots”. Really these are lots of short slot canyons. Wandering is really the right term to describe what you’ll do to explore this part of the park. Walk up towards the canyons, and you’ll find narrow passages that lead you a short distance through the walls.
Exploring Cathedral Cave
A short ways in, you’ll likely hit a dead end, like the one shown below. So wander back and take the next turn and explore further. I guess that’s what makes this very different than a typically slot canyon where the water simply flows one way. These slots have lots and lots of different paths to explore. Don’t worry about getting lost, you won’t walk very far until you hit another dead end. Eventually, you will have seen all of the corners and you’ll walk back out the way you came in.
One of the dead ends in Cathedral Cave
It’s a little hard to see from the picture below where the slots start, but just walk right up to the canyon, and it’s obvious how to get in.
Cathedral Cave entrance
Canyon and Moon Caves
0.3 miles / elevation gain - 60ft
Canyon Cave
We moved our car to get to the second set of caves - Moon and Canyon. I liked these better than Cathedral Cave. The passageways were longer and it was a bigger maze. We also had fun exploring outside of the slot canyons as well.
Playing in Moon and Canyon Caves
When you are playing in these slot canyons, don’t forget to look up to appreciate how tall the walls are.
Moon Cave
We walked back out of the slot canyons, and then explored a little further above and around.
Moon Cave
Moon and Canyon Caves
Moon and Canyon Caves
This was honestly the best part of our whole day. Just look at how we were surrounded by the rock formations.
Moon and Canyon Caves
Moon and Canyon Caves
Badlands National Park
As I mentioned earlier, if you enjoy the rocks at Cathedral Gorge State Park, then be sure to check out Badlands National Park in South Dakota, which is one of my favorite National Parks.
Other Hiking Options
If you are looking for more hiking suggestions, please check out my below map with more of my posts linked to each pin.