Pioneer Park, St. George, Utah
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Fabulous Natural Playground
Pioneer Park rests on the northern edge of St. George, Utah. This is a free public park with zero playground equipment but still offers hours of playtime. My boys were doing distance learning throughout 2021, and we used that flexibility to travel around and explore outdoor spaces in attempt to make lemonade out of a year of lemons. Pioneer Park was one of their favorite places we found that year. When we got home, my youngest wanted to tell his elementary school they needed to replace their big toy with some big rocks.
There are a couple of trails at Pioneer Park, but for the most part it’s just a place of interesting rock formations that can be walked or crawled into, over, around, up, or down. I still haven’t been able to find a map clearly laying out where everything is - I think this is part of the fun of the park in that it takes some exploration. I’ve done my best to create my own map below to label the highlights of what we found. Make sure to check out the arch, slot canyons, and cavern.
There are tons of holes in the rock that are perfectly sized to hide in - St. George’s Pioneer Park
Location and Logistics
As I mentioned, Pioneer Park is on the north edge of St. George. There are plenty of places to park throughout the park. There are so many cool things to see throughout the park that there isn’t a best place to start from. Park anywhere and explore the whole area - there shouldn’t be a need to move the car.
We visited Pioneer Park in March. It was cool in the morning and warmed up by the time we left. This was the perfect time of year to visit. In the summer months, temperatures in St. George exceed 100 deg F. Rocks get hot in the sun, and much of the park involves touching the rocks, so for multiple reasons, I would suggest avoiding this park in the summer months, or head out early in the morning.
Pioneer Park is free to visit. Plan to spend at least two hours. Bring water to drink - this park is in a desert, and kids will play hard here. There are several shaded picnic tables near the parking lots for lunch or a snack.
Playing at Pioneer Park
Below is a map that I’ve made highlighting approximate locations of our favorite places. Some of these names are how we described things while we were at the park, others seem to be more “official” names of features within the park. There aren’t many trails within Pioneer Park. It’s big enough that it requires searching to find everything, but not so big that an adult will get lost. The exploration aspect of this park is it’s best feature. Have fun!
Map of Pioneer Park, St. George
The order of features that I’ve presented below assumes parking at the lot closest to the arch, and exploring counterclockwise. This isn’t the same order that we found things in - we backtracked a lot and looped around since we didn’t have a map, and it took us a long time to find The Crack.
Arch
The arch is pretty much straight ahead from the closest parking lot. To get up there, head up on top of the rocks. This park is 100% about the rock scramble!
Looking down onto the parking lot
We spotted the arch shortly after climbing up and headed in that direction. There were several cool rock formations to stop and check out along the way.
Heading towards the arch in Pioneer Park
There are so many rocks that have perfect children-sized holes in them, and they can be found all over Pioneer Park.
A particularly interesting rock on the way to the arch
The arch is pretty small - but kids can have fun walking under it and climbing around above it as well.
The arch at Pioneer Park, St. George
Nearby is a second, smaller arch. The city of St. George is visible in the distance.
Smaller arch at Pioneer Park, St. George.
Small Gorge (edge of park)
I admit that I didn’t really “get” Pioneer Park to start with. There is a trail a bit off on the right of the arch, and I thought maybe that’s how one found things - using a trail? The first part of the trail is cool. There is a small rock gorge that the boys had fun scaling up and down. Then the trail continues north, and we walked the whole loop. It goes off into this flat boring section that I’ve marked on the map. Stay south of the trail. The coolest things in the park are not found by walking along marked trails.
Small gorge on the east=side of Pioneer Park
The Crack (otherwise known as St. George Narrows)
The next thing to check out is a slot canyon that goes by two names: The Crack and St. George Narrows. This was the last thing we found in the park. I read and re-read and re-re-read directions from blogs while we were looking for it. Eventually we stumbled across it at the end of our visit. Hopefully these directions are simpler.
If you are at the arch, walk west. You will come to the crack from on top of the rocks. This slot canyon is a tight squeeze. It’s possible to go in either direction through the canyon, but in reality, you are going to go the same direction that everyone else goes… as you won’t be able to pass each other inside of the canyon. Just pay attention to how people are getting through it and walk towards that end of the canyon where people are lined up. We entered from the north side and walked south.
The Crack (otherwise known as the St. George Narrows) - Pioneer Park
To get into The Crack from the north side, there are some easy steps made of rock.
Entering The Crack from the north side of Pioneer Park
Inside, it’s a tight squeeze. Feet can fit in a forward direction the whole time, and my head had space to turn, so not the narrowest slot canyon that I’ve been in, but still, this is a dramatically small space to take a hike through. This was the boys favorite part of Pioneer Park.
Walking through The Crack (St. George Narrows) at Pioneer Park
The south entrance is pretty close to the parking lot below the arch. There aren’t many trees at Pioneer Park, so my best hint at how to find The Crack from the parking lot is walk north and look for trees.
Southern entrance to The Crack (St. George Narrows)
The southern end of The Crack terminates at the bottom of the canyon - no need to climb out of anything. Keep walking south from here and you will hit one of the parking lots.
Southern entrance of The Crack (St. George Narrows) - Pioneer Park - Marked by trees
Pioneer Cabin and Boy Scout Cave
From The Crack, head down the rocks, back towards the road, and then go west. There are a couple of ruins to find from the cabin and boy scout camp. We didn’t quite know what we were looking for, but we found the old campfire. Had we wandered just a little bit north from here, we would have found Boy Scout Cave, which is a cavern with a brick wall and doorway in front of it. This was a clubhouse built by Explorer Scouts in the 1940s.
In the 1940s, Explorer Scouts from troop 404 built their headquarters at what is now Pioneer Park
Cavern
Now head west and a little bit south. Climb down from any rocks. The cavern is found from the ground level. There is a little spot to crawl through.
Entrance to the cavern - Pioneer Park
The space opens up into another slot canyon. This one is much wider than The Crack.
Second slot cayon at Pioneer Park from the Cavern
Bridge and Moki Steps
Follow along at the base of the rocks heading north. Moki steps (holes cut into the rocks for hands and feet) and a bridge will come into view. Older kids can easily scale up the Moki steps to the top of Dixie Rock.
Moki Steps at Pioneer Park lead the way up to Dixie Rock
A bridge connects the rocks. We found it a little easier to get down on the backside of the rock after crossing the bridge.
Bridge to Dixie Rock at Pioneer Park
View of St. George from Dixie Rock. I didn’t know Dixie was painted on this rock. I’ve heard it’s a little hard to see from the top, but we weren’t looking for it.
Dixie Rock - Sugarloaf Mountain
My last recommendation is to stay on top of the rocks and explore the park a little further north and east. There are both pretty views of St. George and many more rocks to explore.
View of St. GEorge from Pioneer Park
Another view of St. George from Pioneer Park
These rocks are so much fun to play in!
Playing Hide-and-Seek in the rocks at Pioneer Park
Small arch at Pioneer Park
The next couple of pictures show a more zoomed out view of the rocks at St. George. Again, there aren’t trails. It’s incredibly fun to just spend hours scrambling up, over, and around these rocks.
Pioneer Park, St. George
Pioneer Park, St. George
Pioneer Park, St. George
Red Hills Desert Garden
In the southeast part of Pioneer Park, there is a free garden to explore - Red Hills Desert Garden. It is normally open 6am-10pm. It was closed when we visited though, and I can’t remember why. The pictures I’ve seen on the internet are pretty though, and desert gardens are amazing when they are blooming.
Other Things to Do Nearby (within an hour drive)
Below are hyperlinks to other posts I’ve written about things to do that are located within an hour’s drive from Sand Hollow State Park.
Snow Canyon State Park
(northwest) Snow Canyon is a unique place to hike that has a short slot canyon and lava tube caves that can be explored, in addition to some beautiful hikes.
Yant Flat Candy Cliffs
(northeast) The Yant Flat Candy Cliffs is a relatively short desert hike to a hidden and strangely beautiful display of geometric patterns cut into red-and-white-striped Navajo Sandstone surrounded by green brush-covered mountains. Use the road from Leeds - the road from St. George is not well maintained.
Kanarra Falls
(northeast) Kanarra Falls is a moderately difficult hike that travels through a slot canyon with four waterfalls. This trail goes through the water and feet and ankles will get wet. Permits are needed for this hike. Consider pre-purchasing as only 200 hikers are allowed in per day.
Zion National Park
(east) Zion National Park is probably the reason for traveling to this part of Utah. There are so many fantastic hikes for all types of hikers - beginners through advanced.
Sand Hollow State Park
(east) Sand Hollow State Park includes a crystal clear reservoir, great for swimming and cliff jumping, and a fun place for families with older kids to cool off on a hot da. This park also has ATV trails that cross over sand dunes.
More from www.NatureImpactsUs.com
In the map below, there are additional posts I’ve written attached to each pin. Use two fingers to move around within the map.