Padre Canyon is adjacent to

Snow Canyon State Park Snow Canyon State Park is a state park in Utah, located in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve. The park features a canyon carved from the red and white Navajo sandstone of the Red Mountains, as well as the extinct Santa Clara Volcano, lava tubes, ...

and Red Mountain in Ivins, Utah, and features a three sided canyon and scenic sentinels carved from the red

Navajo Sandstone The Navajo Sandstone is a geological formation in the Glen Canyon Group that is spread across the U.S. states of southern Nevada, northern Arizona, northwest Colorado, and Utah as part of the Colorado Plateau province of the United States.Anonymou ...

. Padre Canyon is part of the

Red Cliffs Desert Reserve Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...

, a 62,000 acre protected area that contains three distinct ecosystems: the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...

, the

Colorado Plateau The Colorado Plateau, also known as the Colorado Plateau Province, is a physiographic and desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. This province covers an area of ...

and the

Great Basin The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California ...

. Geological features of the canyon include Padre Rock, the Padre Arch, pillared rock formations and sand dunes.

About

Padre Canyon is in southwest Utah, roughly 50 miles west of Zion National Park with a valley elevation of 3,100 feet above sea level. Padre Canyon is a three sided canyon oriented north to south. To the east is steep sloping hillside that gradually merges upward into vertical Kayenta and Navajo Sandstone cliffs at 4,000 feet elevation. The east side of the canyon descends southward to 3,500 feet and abruptly terminates in the North Black Rocks lava field. The north end of the canyon is a saddle with a trail peak elevation of 3,740 feet in altitude. The west side of the canyon is Red Mountain at 4,500 feet in altitude. To the south of the canyon is the low lying basin of the Mohave Desert with vistas of the Utah Range, the first in a long series of ranges of the Basin and Range Physiographic province. The area is bordered and protected by

, the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area (managed by the Bureau of Land Management), and the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve. The canyon is adjacent to the Red Mountain Wilderness. The

Tuacahn Center for the Arts The Tuacahn Center for the Arts is an arts organization located at the mouth of the Padre Canyon, adjacent to Snow Canyon State Park, in Ivins, Utah. The facility was completed in 1995 and includes a 1,920-seat outdoor amphitheater, a 328-seat i ...

is located in the mouth of the canyon.

Facilities

Padre Canyon is accessible by car from Tuacahn Drive, with parking available at a pull-over just south of the main gate for the Tuacahn Center for the Arts. The Padre Canyon hiking trail can be accessed using a small trail east of the canyon wash, or from a small connector at the northeast portion of the Tuacahn facility. No bathrooms, picnic areas or campgrounds are available. There is no trailer parking.

Climate

Padre Canyon, like much of the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, has a dry and arid climate. In summer it is generally hot during the day and warm at night, with an average daily high of and low of recorded for the nearby town of Ivins in the month July. In fall and winter months it is generally temperate during the day and cold at night, with an average daily high of and low of in Ivins in December. The area sees regular light precipitation of around each month with the exception of May and June when precipitation reduces to around .

History

The area around Padre and Snow Canyons has had human activity since the

5th century BC The 5th century BC started the first day of 500 BC and ended the last day of 401 BC. This century saw the establishment of Pataliputra as a capital of the Magadha Empire. This city would later become the ruling capital of different Indian king ...

. From AD 200 to 1250,

Ancestral Puebloans The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as the Anasazi, were an ancient Native American culture that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, a ...

inhabited the nearby region, utilizing the canyon for hunting and gathering.

Southern Paiute The Southern Paiute people are a tribe of Native Americans who have lived in the Colorado River basin of southern Nevada, northern Arizona, and southern Utah. Bands of Southern Paiute live in scattered locations throughout this territory and ha ...

used the canyon from AD 1200 to the mid-19th century.

Orval Hafen Orval Hafen (November 16, 1903–October 3, 1964) was a Utah Senate, Utah State Senator and president of the Utah Bar Association. He was a key figure in the long process that by the start of the 21st-century had made St. George, Utah, St. Ge ...

purchased 80 acres in Padre Canyon in 1957, and built a cabin at the base of the cliffs. He described the canyon, saying In 1993, local playwright

Douglass Stewart Douglass Stewart is a Latter-day Saint playwright most notable for having written '' Saturday's Warrior''. He also wrote the screenplay used in the 1974 film version of '' Where the Red Fern Grows''. He was the moving creative force behind the cre ...

raised funds to convert the natural amphitheater at the base of the cliffs to what would eventually become

Tuacahn Amphitheatre and Center for the Arts The Tuacahn Center for the Arts is an arts organization located at the mouth of the Padre Canyon, adjacent to Snow Canyon State Park, in Ivins, Utah. The facility was completed in 1995 and includes a 1,920-seat outdoor amphitheater, a 328-seat ...

Flora and fauna

Padre Canyon has views of

backcountry. During the springtime this area shows desert wildflowers of desert baileya, banana and soap tree yucca, brittle brush,

creosote bush ''Larrea tridentata'', called creosote bush and greasewood as a plant, chaparral as a medicinal herb, and ''gobernadora'' (Spanish language, Spanish for "governess") in Mexico, due to its ability to secure more water by inhibiting the growth of n ...

indigo bush The common name indigo bush can refer to plants in any of several genera in the legume family, including: *'' Amorpha'', native to North America *''Dalea'' *''Psorothamnus ''Psorothamnus'' is a genus of plants in the legume family. These are s ...

purple sage Purple sage has various uses, mostly referring to plants or to Zane Grey's novel '' Riders of the Purple Sage'', set in Utah. There is disagreement about what plant Grey had in mind. Plants *Certain true sages, members of the genus ''Salvia'' in t ...

range ratany ''Krameria erecta'' is a species of rhatany known by several common names, including Pima rhatany, purple heather, and littleleaf rhatany. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it grows in dry areas such as de ...

, palmers penstemon, hedgehog and prickly pear. Wash areas host tamarisk. Wildlife includes the Gila monster,

peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (Bird of prey, raptor) in the family (biology), family Falco ...

and desert tortoise. In 1990, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Mojave Desert tortoise as a "threatened" species. Small fences to keep the ground dwelling creatures from accidentally wandering onto roads border the roadway into the canyon. Other notable wildlife include the giant desert hairy scorpion,

coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecologica ...

, Mojave sidewinder,

red-spotted toad The red-spotted toad (''Anaxyrus punctatus'', formerly ''Bufo punctatus'') is a toad in the family Bufonidae found in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. Description It is a small toad species growing to in length. It has a f ...

, Utah banded gecko, and the side-blotched lizard, among many others.

Geology

Padre Canyon is within Washington County, which lies on the Hurricane Fault. The fault bisects the county, and is visible at the Hurricane Cliffs, which run south to the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...

. The fault has exposed colorful layers of rocks dating back to the age of the dinosaurs and older. Most of the scenic red rock is known as

Navajo sandstone The Navajo Sandstone is a geological formation in the Glen Canyon Group that is spread across the U.S. states of southern Nevada, northern Arizona, northwest Colorado, and Utah as part of the Colorado Plateau province of the United States.Anonymou ...

was created from layers of cemented sand that blew into

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

nearly 200 million years ago. In the past million years, eruptions of several cinder cones and lava flows scattered the ground with black basaltic rocks.Red Cliffs Desert Reserve Map and Trail Guide 2015

Trails

Padre Canyon Trail – . Medium to hard, maneuvering through slots, off ledges, and through holes on your knees, and may involve some wading, especially in the winter and spring. Highlights include slickrock hiking, arched alcoves, the Doll House and an undisturbed ecosystem. It is not recommended for those without some backcountry experience. Red Mountain Route - . Strenuous. Primitive route is remote and faint in places, great panoramic views, extreme caution is recommended. Toe Trail – . Easy trail. Follows Ivins flood control dike.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Snow Canyon State Park
Canyons and gorges of Utah Canyons and gorges of Washington County, Utah