<h4>Sand Hollow - Arizona Strip ATV Trail |ATV Utah<p><sup>NEW TRAIL!!!</sup></p>

Sand Hollow - Arizona Strip ATV Trail |ATV Utah

NEW TRAIL!!!

Nearest City: 
Hurricane - St. George,
UT
Region: 
Southern
Trailhead Location: 
South end of Cliff Dweller Ranch
Trailhead GPS: 
37° 5'26.62"N 113°18'43.00"W
Trail Mileage: 
70 miles
Riding Difficulty: 
Graded road to very sandy
Temperature Range: 
50's in the winter 100+ in the summer

Trail Description

Park at the south end of the runway at the "Cliff Dwellers Ranch", just before you cross the cattle guard. Heading south on Arizona Strip road, stay left when you cross the cattle guard. Looking to the left are the Hurricane cliffs. Follow this road about nine miles and you will cross the Arizona border. As you come to the next stream bed you will see the old Honeymoon trail that will proceed up the Hurricane cliff( 36°59'44.33"N 113°18'37.13"W). It is a short yet challenging trip up and back, but worth it for the views of the surrounding terrain. Be careful with your more timid drivers as there are a few off-camber spots while climbing and descending the trail.
When you come back down the Honeymoon trail you will see the trail head mostly west. The name of the trail you are on is the "Temple trail." You will proceed around two miles and the road will turn south again. You can follow the dry stream bed south for a little more challenging ride as the road will meet up stream bed a thousand feet or so up the valley. You will see some large power lines coming up. Stay left at the intersection ( 36°55'49.03"N 113°21'43.88"W) and proceed toward the black hills in front of you. The trail really thins out at this point as you go up through a large volcanic formation. You will gain around 600 feet of elevation before you descend off the formation into and large grassy flat.
At the next intersection ( 36°52'21.88"N 113°22'9.39"W) you will stay right and leave the Temple trail. You will go up and over a few small hills and then join the Sunshine Trail heading north. This trail is a maintained dirt road and you can open up the throttle and put the miles behind you fairly quickly. At the north end of the valley the road will start to wind as you gain elevation. Soon you will be on top of Basset Butte( 36°56'35.10"N 113°27'0.34"W), a good rise that gives you good views all the way into St. George. Proceed down the the hill and turn left (west) onto the cutoff road you saw earlier at the power lines. Follow the power line cutoff road for about a mile until you see a road heading north( 36°57'17.15"N 113°27'37.79"W) . This is another good road and the terrain will pass quickly. Keep an eye out to the left and you will see an old Mica mine. If you stop you can find large pieces of Mica lying around. Proceed north and you will cross the Utah border. 500 feet north of the Utah border you will go through Pearce wash and then to an intersection. At the intersection take a right. The road will very quickly come to a gate with "No Trespassing" posted( 37° 0'2.21"N 113°27'46.37"W). Turn south the East and follow the OHV trails along Pearce wash. These are fun trails that will lead you around two and a half miles East to the Fort Pearce ruins( 37° 0'26.30"N 113°24'39.45"W). A couple miles south on the main road you can also find a large concentration of Dinosaur tracks.

Head north from Fort Pearce into the Warner valley. Warner valley is a wide valley that is sand trails and lots of fun. The further north you get the more narrow the valley gets. There are many sand hills and washes that have been used as half pipes. When you get to the northern end of Warner valley look for a road (37° 6'43.24"N 113°26'27.93"W) that will take you to the top of the Sand mountain cliffs to the right (East). Follow the road most of the way up until you see an OHV trail ( 37° 7'8.92"N 113°25'43.58"W) take off to the right. This will take you up to the top. If you head East you will end up at Sand Hollow reservoir.

Turn right through the old fence line and follow that sandy dual track whoop dee doo trail south about a mile and you'll come the top of a huge sand dune. Drop down it into the valley then climb up the trail on the other side. From here the main trail curves SW then SE around the top of the rim towards an area of slick rock that you'll see farther to the south. There are tons of trails on top. Watch for trails that head towards the red rock to the SE as that's the direction you want to go. You can't get lost here as most other trails dead end at the edge of the Sand Mountain cliff. Once you get to the slick rock you'll come to an 18 inch ledge.

Once on top of the slick rock, continue in a SE arc around the top of Sand Mountain. You'll see one tall hill off in the distance about 5 or 6 miles. The trail goes right to it. There are lots of side trails to the right that will take you down into some interesting sandstone rock formations, but again you'll come to cliffs with no way off, so ultimately you'll need to continue on to that tall hill which you'll want to do, because just beyond that hill is the back side of the Sand Hollow Sand Dune where the wonderful sand dune bowls are located.

When you get tired of playing on the dunes, there is a trail (approx. 37° 4'12.71"N 113°23'22.30"W) that will take you off the east side of the dunes down about 2 miles into a valley. In the bottom of the valley, turn left(northeast) (37° 4'0.45"N 113°20'51.61"W). Follow the trail for about three miles where it will eventually turn east around the north tip of the hill you've been following off your right side. You should be back to the Cliff dwellers ranch where you parked your vehicles.

Trail Photos

Additional Trail Information

4200 ft
2800 ft
Mohave desert, scrub brush, lava, a lot of sand
Scrub brush, cactus, very few trees
October through early May
Many places in Hurricane

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