Santa Clara Petroglyphs via Anasazi Trail: Santa Clar River Preserve, Ivins, UT ❤️❤️❤️

12/15/2021: A very easy trail to see some very cool petroglyphs. We stopped a bit short of the best ones, I think. Go past where we stopped for more petroglyphs. See the trail map. The hike itself is nothing to write home about but a nice hike if you just want to get out and see some good petroglyphs. We did this hike and Elephant Arch the same day. I liked Elephant Arch a bit more.

• 3.0 Miles roundtrip – Family Friendly. 5-year old grandson? Yes. You can continue the hike for more petroglyphs. We didn't, dang it 😔.
• Difficulty: Easy
• Elevation range: 330 ft gain
• Traffic: Moderate to Heavy (We saw two people in December)
• Getting There: No issues. If it has been raining, you'll get your car dirty.
• Trail Obstacles: None. You will want to scramble down rocks a bit to see the good petroglyphs.
• Fees: None
• Trailhead Coordinates: 37.16246, -113.70613
• Driving Directions
• Trail Map The trail map has the blue trail that we did and a continuation red trail that we should have done. The red continuation trail has a lot more and, we have been told, much better petroglyphs.
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• Photos
• Geo-mapped Photos
• Management: BLM: Santa Clara River Reserve
• Alltrails Info
  • Rods Alltrails activity

Marg’s Notes: Santa Clara Petroglyphs & Elephant Arch. Off on Hwy 91 gain. Snow on the road over the pass. Headed to the Santa Clara Petroglyphs just outside of St. George. Not a very exciting hike. Switchbacks up a hill of sage & mesquite. But, at the top LOTS of petroglyphs. Cold again. We scrambled among the rocks looking for drawings. On the way back down, we met a couple from Portland. Chuck & Becky. Their daughter lives close to us! The had moved down to Utah! Chatted for ½ an hour! Ver nice. We learned we missed some petroglyphs further on. ☹ After chatting, we headed straight down the hill. Much quicker! 2.9 miles. Next we went on to Elephant Arch. A dirt road to get there… Started the hike ~12:45. Not too hard. A lot of it thru wash, then up the rocks. We climbed to the top & had lunch! Beautiful. View. Met 1 person on the way down. Again, moved faster going out. ~4 miles in 2.5 hours. Back to Mesquite! Did laundry!

Rod’s Ramblings from the Trail: It is about 35° and we started this hike about 10:30. There are no issues driving here although the last half mile is on dirt road. If it's been raining you will get your car muddy. Nobody else on the trail or at least at the trailhead. Our objective is to see petroglyphs.

The trail is wide and smooth rock small rock and gravel and sand.

I think AllTrails.com has this marked as a moderate hike. No way. This is a very, very easy hike. Marguerite says that it was a gradual uphill all the way. I guess if you are not fit this would maybe be moderate. But if you are even marginally fit then I still consider it a very easy hike

In terms of petroglyphs, these are cool petroglyphs up here. However, I'm still more excited about the ones we saw at the end of the Gold Butte Trail in Gold Butte national monument. Those were awesome!