A Few Easy Hikes and a Short Jaunt into Utah

Posted from Hurricane, UT
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The Toadstools Trail
Lone Rock Camground
The Hanging Garden Trail


On Thursday 4/27 we decided to venture out and hike a few shorter trails in the area.  We exited our campground and headed north on US89.  After a short drive of about 23 miles we arrived at a small pull off to hike a short trail named The Toadstools Trail.

What is a "Toadstool" we wondered. According to the sign at the trailhead:

A toadstool is a spire-like feature with a boulder perched atop a pedestal rock, like a mushroom, or "toadstool". It forms when softer rock erodes away, leaving a column sheltered from wind and water. 

The first part of the trail was relatively flat, but we did get to see several desert flowering plants along the route.

Finally after about a mile we caught our first glimpse of the largest "toadstool".  A very interesting feature in the landscape.

We continued on and found some "baby" toadstools beginning to form near the walls of the mountain.

Fortunately, we had read some online reviews for this trail and were instructed to continue to the left of these toadstools and do a bit of rock scrambling to observe some other formations.

We would have totally missed this great view of the canyon below had we not continued past the end of the designated trail.

After hiking back to our starting point we proceeded back into AZ toward our campground.  On the way up, however, we had seen a sign touting Lone Rock Campground.

Of course, we had to take a look. This dry camping area is part of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and is located right along the edge of Powell Lake. Quite a few rigs, both large and small, were dry camping along the water.

The derivation of the name of the area Lone Rock  was evident after looking out into the water.

We didn't spend a whole lot of time here as we wanted to get back to the Glen Canyon Dam area and hike a short trail named Hanging Garden Trail.

This trail is only one mile roundtrip and is a combination of flat rock and sand. There were some great views looking back toward Lake Powell on the way to the destination.

The trail is named for the lush ferns clinging to the walls of the overhang. The ferns are fed by water dripping from the roof and the grotto-like area is almost always in the shade. This makes for a very conducive environment for the ferns to survive during the hot summers.

A short stop here proved to be a welcome respite from summer's heat, although the temperatures today were only in the high 70s. What a great way to end a great day of easy hiking.







Thanks for stopping by to take a look!