Red Cliffs Recreation Area
Personal Notes
This page presents our personal notes on our visit to the Red Cliffs Recreation Area in Utah.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
11:47 a.m.
We exited Interstate 15 near Leeds, Utah. The little town is stretched out along the access road. We headed south to the point where a sign points to the Red Cliffs Recreation area. The road passes under the freeway through two narrow passages. Apparently the openings are 11' x 11', so any vehicle larger than that should not attempt to enter. We did see large trailers and RVs in the campground, so there is probably more room than it seems.
11:53 a.m.
Red Cliffs Recreation Area sits among the red cliffs to the west of the Interstate in this area. There is a $2.00 day use fee. The BLM site charges $8.00 per night for camping. I believe I read that there are ten camp sites scattered around the paved loop. There are also day use parking areas here and there, and a larger one near the shaded picnic area, at the top of the loop near a ford that crosses a little stream.
12:06 p.m.
We hiked the short, easy trail that climbs up the face of the red cliffs to an overlook above Silver Reef Valley, to the north and east. There are also good views of the campground and the cliffs to the west and south. We could also see the covered archaeological sites on a small rise out in the valley. This trail is marked and begins near the restrooms. The GPS Coordinates for the trailhead are: N37 13.479; W113 24.330; at an elevation of 3,220 feet.
After that hike we made our way out to the archaeological site. The trail gets a bit confused out in the tall brush, but we could always see where we needed to get to, so made our way okay. There are trail markers here and there, and once we found the main trail we had no problem.
The site sits atop a small hill. There are several excavated Anasazi food storage pits that are somewhat unique, at least in our experience. The largest of the circular pits reminded me of a small kiva. Pretty interesting. As I said above, some agency has taken the time and expense to cover the excavations to reduce erosion.
After that little hike we crossed through the picnic area and took the trail that leads back into the cliffs. There are lots of great views of the surrounding cliffs and erosional features. The trail mostly stays on a sandy shoulder above the stream, allowing views in all directions. There is a nice alcove in one side canyon, and eventually the trail leads into a nifty slot canyon with deep pools of water. We only went a short ways back into the canyon, to a point where there is a set of shallow steps carved into the sandstone, with a rope to help hikers get past a large pool.
Looking back into the narrow canyon we can see that there are more great views and interesting features back in there, so we'll have to come back on some other visit and explore a bit farther.
2:24 p.m.
After we returned to the campground we had a nice picnic lunch under the tall trees. Almost all of the leaves have fallen and it was fun to walk through the brown and yellow leaves that have collected on the grass. There is drinking water available in the picnic area, as well as many solid metal tables.
There is no electrical power available for trailers and RVs. Each campsite looks to have a covered picnic table and a fire pit. It is a paved road throughout the campground.
2:25 p.m.
When we left the Recreation area the temperature was around 70 degrees.
