The best hikes near Hurricane.

The town's history walk. Starting in 1893, settlers spent eleven years cutting a canal by hand along the face of the Hurricane Cliffs to bring Virgin River water up onto the bench, and the orchards that followed made this Utah's fruit basket. The trail follows that hand cut channel above the houses.

Short mileage, real exposure, no shade, and drop-offs that deserve attention. It is a morning or evening walk in the cool months, and it is the one I take visitors on when I want them to understand why the town is where it is.

Red Cliffs National Conservation Area is the protected desert on the far side of the valley, and the Red Cliffs Recreation Area inside it holds the best known walk. The Red Reef Trail runs up a sandstone drainage with water flowing through it, pools in the rock, and a short scramble at the crux that stops a lot of people and delights the rest. The trailhead sits about halfway between Hurricane and Leeds, beneath the Pine Valley Mountain country.

It is the closest thing around to a water hike that needs no park reservation, but how much water is running depends on the season and the year, so it is a check first hike rather than a show up one. Spring after a wet winter is the best version. And this is a narrow canyon with a creek in it: from July into September, treat it as flash flood country and stay out when storms are building anywhere upstream.

Riders get the credit for Gooseberry Mesa, but the walk out to Gooseberry Point is open to anyone with decent shoes and a taste for slickrock. From the trailhead on the mesa top the route crosses painted-dot rock to the mesa's far rim, where the ground ends and the whole Zion country stands up in front of you. This version needs no bike.

The access road wants clearance and the rock wants attention, especially at the rim. Sunset out there is one of the best free hours in Washington County, but bring a headlamp and know your way back across slickrock in the dark.

The hiking here is short. The commitment is the road: several miles of genuinely rough dirt that climbs toward the country above Toquerville and has humbled a lot of rental cars. High clearance is the sensible minimum, and going with a second vehicle is not a bad idea.

What you get is water spilling over black lava rock into pools in the middle of the desert. One thing worth getting right: the falls sit on Ash Creek, the same drainage that runs through Toquerville itself. Skip the trip when storms are building anywhere upstream, and pack out everything you bring.

Zion's northwest corner is a national park entrance almost nobody uses. Drive the five-mile scenic road up into the finger canyons, park at the end, and walk a short, mostly gentle trail out to a viewpoint that pays like a hike three times its length.

Late afternoon is when the red walls turn on. On a weekend when the main Zion canyon is at capacity, this is the sane alternative and the drive is only ten minutes longer.

The real hike in Kolob Canyons. The trail follows a creek up a narrowing canyon, crossing the water repeatedly, past a pair of old homestead cabins, and finishes under an enormous stained alcove with a double arch overhead. It is the sort of ending that makes people sit down for a while.

Wet feet are part of the deal. It is best in spring and fall, and it can hold ice in the shaded upper canyon well into the cool months.

And then there is the main canyon, half an hour from a Hurricane driveway. The Watchman and the Emerald Pools are the approachable ones. The Narrows walked upstream from the bottom needs no permit but does need the river to cooperate. Angels Landing requires a permit issued through a lottery.

Living here changes how you use all of it. Instead of one big trip you get repeat mornings, off-season weekdays, and the winter weeks when the shuttle stops running and the canyon belongs to whoever showed up. The full drive map is on the national parks page.