After heading out of Southern California last week, I stopped by Las Vegas to take care of some errands before leaving for the next segment of my road trip—I checked my PO box, got a haircut, exchanged some stuff from my storage unit, took a routine blood test, visited my chiropractor, attended a class at the university, and met up with some friends. Yesterday, I set out towards Utah, the first state in my next loop around the country.

My first major destination is going to be Zion National Park, but on the way there, I decided to spend a night in St. George to break up the drive into shorter segments. After checking out of St. George, I took a stop at La Verkin on my way to Virgin, a town on Utah State Route 9 along the way to Zion.

To the west of La Verkin is Confluence Park in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, part of the greater Red Cliffs National Conservation Area. I decided this would be a great place to take a hike while waiting for check-in time at my next hotel.

This was an interesting hike, as the beginning of the trailhead was nestled between a few vacation condos next door to a coffee shop, and within several hundred feet, there was a massive descent of a few hundred feet of elevation down into the canyon. From there, the hiking trail followed alongside the Virgin River and continued northwest.

The out-and-back to the intersecting point of the Virgin River and La Verkin Creek was a little over three and a half miles, which included a wrong turn that I took partway down the trail. I thought this was a great hike; I haven’t really been on too many where you descend directly into a canyon right at the beginning of the trail, and are surrounded by towering rock formations throughout the hike.