It's Real And It's Spectacular | Hike To One Of Utah's Best Overlooks

Good morning, Julie. >> Good morning. >> What are we doing today? >> Today, we're going to do the Snow Canyon Overlook, and we're starting at the Red Mountain Trailhead in the Red Mountain Wilderness. And it's a 5-mi round trip. >> Yeah, roughly 5 mi. It's a lollipop trail. >> Yeah. >> Means there's a little loop at the end of it. >> Correct. Right at the overlook, there's a little loop. >> Yeah, there's about a mile 1-mi loop at the end. All right, let's head out on the trail. See what we find today. Well, the first part of this trail is a little rocky. Not super exciting so far. It's between two fence lines. There's some nice cactus specimens. Prickly pears. Well, the rocks have changed a little bit. The fence is gone. A little more rounded, smoother rocks. It's a perfect day. There's a light breeze, no cloud in the sky. We haven't seen anybody on the trail yet. There's an ant-eating lizard. It's almost tame. See you later, buddy. >> [snorts] >> And this is the trail behind us. Kind of a scrubby landscape here. There are some sort of yuccas over that way. And then these, I don't know if these are rhododendrons or what are those, Julie? >> I don't know either. >> You're supposed to know that kind of stuff. >> I don't know for that. >> And then obviously the junipers. I believe that's what these are or some little kind of pine tree. Yeah, that's a pine tree. >> It also has like looks like wax on the bark. >> Yeah. >> I don't know what it is. >> Well, onward. >> [sighs] >> Here's a juniper. There's another one by Julie. These are pretty common in the west. A lot of times they consider them invasive because they they can really take over like pasture land and grazing land. What do we have here? >> Big beetle. >> We got a dung beetle. The sand is getting a little deep. It's real sugary flour sand. Or sugar sand, I guess. Oh, Julie sees some Indian paintbrush up ahead. And there's also some yucca blooms I see. This sand is something. It's It's deep. And here's a pretty little area. Very scenic. We're coming in to some different rock formations, too, now. Well, I think we might already be on the overlook trail without even knowing it. I thought we had to take a cut off to it, but this looks like Whatever it is, it's kind of a scenic area. Got some rock formations. There's a vulture circling overhead. Well, there's Julie enjoying the view. And here it is. And it goes straight down from where I'm standing. I don't want to slide in there. It's sandy here. And this is overlooking the Snow Canyon State Park. Down that way is the lava flow and all that, and the petrified dunes, and and mountains over here, too. Spectacular. Makes you a little queasy standing right here. Yeah, that's a pretty special view, isn't it? The Red Mountains. We pretty much hiked quite a bit of the terrain down below us here. Not all of it, obviously, but a lot of it. Just beautiful. The Red Mountains. That's looking up above me, and there's still a ways to go up higher if you wanted to. And this is looking down. I'm going straight down the cliff. That's got to be several hundred feet if not more, and not a thousand or more. We're leaving the main part of that overlook. It was absolutely spectacular. And the sand is deep. And this should be the lollipop part of it. We're about halfway through it. >> [music] [music] >> Well, we have reached the Red Mountain Trail, which is where we came in on, and that finishes our loop. We came in from our right as we're looking and we went that way up to the overlook. And then we looped around and we came back on this trail. I think there is more than one trail that will get you back to this main Red Mountain Trail. There's a lot of user trails up in there and horse trails. It's a little confusing, but >> And also there's not a sign that tells you where the overlook is. >> So, you got to do a little snooping around to figure things out, but we're going back down this way. This is the way we came. So, we came across this little area where all these little holes are. They look like ant hills, but they're not. They're they're bees, and if you watch, they'll come diving into their hole. >> They're all wandering. >> I don't know if they're mad at me. I don't think they're I don't think they're being bothered by me. I'm not getting stung anyway. Look at them come out there, though. Here's one on my hand. That's the craziest thing, isn't it? And there are all kinds of them here. And they must know where their own little hole is cuz they I saw one go from about two about three different holes before he ducked in one. I don't know what they're doing there. Laying eggs? >> I don't know. They're like ants. >> That's crazy, isn't it? >> Yeah. Well, we made it back to the trailhead. Uh it was a great hike and this is at the Red Mountain trailhead, which is a huge trailhead and it also can have um horses here as well. >> It looks like there's a lot of horse parking, doesn't it? Horse trailer parking. >> So, to summarize, we went to the Snow Canyon Overlook and came back and it was the total trip mileage is 5 mi, a little over 5 mi, and it was a great um overlook and it's a great trail. We saw lots of um animals or animal wildlife. The lizards and great flowers. This time of year, the um cactus were blooming, so it was really nice. The trail's a little rough at first. There's a lot of rocks and then it gets a little sandy, but [clears throat] um it's well worth it. And it took us about 3 and 1/2 hours to do it. We weren't in any rush, but um we were taking our time and enjoying the scenery. So, thanks for watching. We hope you enjoyed it and we'll see you on our next adventure.