Snow Canyon State Park with Kids

 We recently headed south for some warmer weather and decided to visit Snow Canyon State Park. It's been many years since we've gone, and when we paid our admission fee, the nice volunteer recommended that we do the petrified sand dunes hike. We took his suggestion and found a fascinating place.

 It was a really overcast day, which kind of dashed my hopes of getting some awesome sunset/moonrise photos, but it was still a great day for hiking.

I'm not used to seeing so much red rock, so I really enjoyed it. This is Navajo sandstone, about 183 million years old, and in layers up to 2,500 feet thick.

The views were outstanding.

 I loved the patterns in the sandstone and tried to figure out how the layers had been preserved with so many different angles.

 We stopped for an all-important snack break.

  We followed the hiking trail for awhile, then decided to make our own loop back around. Desert Boy wanted to try some rock climbing.

Desert Girl had to do what big brother did!

We really enjoyed the Petrified Sand Dune stop. Then we went down the road a bit and stopped at the sand dunes. It was getting late and the sand was quite cold, so we didn't stay long.

Lots of other families with kids were having a great time there.

We had one more stop that had been recommended as very kid friendly: the 1/4 mile Jenny's Canyon.

 The parking area was small, but since we were so late in the day, we had space. We walked on the sandy path, which didn't exactly agree with her sparkly red shoes (I didn't realize her hiking footwear until we had already left the house!).

 The trail quickly enters a narrow slot canyon. It was dark at the end of it.

In fact, soon we had to use the flash to get photos. This was the perfect length of hike to end the evening. Then it was time to get some food and hang out.

There's lots more to see and do in Snow Canyon, including 38 miles of hiking trails, 3 miles of a paved multi use trail, camping, caving in lava tubes, and rock climbing, so we'll be back another day!