Where to swim near Ivins.

Gunlock State Park is a quiet reservoir in a red rock bowl about twenty minutes northwest of Ivins on Old Highway 91, past the last subdivisions and into ranch country. It is a fishing and paddling water more than a swim beach, and the drive out there is honestly half the appeal.

In wet springs the reservoir spills over the travertine ledges below the dam and drops through a set of waterfalls into pools, and when it happens the whole county drives out to see it. It does not happen every spring. When it does, the small parking areas fill early and the rock around the falls stays slick, so check conditions before you drive, treat the falls as a bonus rather than a plan, and go early.

Sand Hollow is warm blue water pushed up against orange sandstone with the Sand Mountain dunes rising behind it, and it is the most visited state park in Utah. The day use area, with the swim beach, the boat ramps, and camping on the sand, sits on the reservoir's west shore, and there are rock islands to swim out to and coves that paddleboards have to themselves.

From Ivins it is a real drive, 35 to 40 minutes east across the metro, so it is a day rather than an evening. On a summer Saturday the ramps and lots are working hard by midmorning, so go on a weekday or be on the water before nine. The full breakdown of both eastern reservoirs is on the Sand Hollow and Quail Creek guide.

Quail Creek is the second reservoir on the same highway corridor east of Ivins, out on the west side of the Hurricane valley, and it is the opposite kind of place from Sand Hollow: deeper, cooler, considerably quieter, and set against red rock and open desert rather than a dune skyline. It reaches roughly 120 feet in places, and that cool deep water is what makes it the better fishery, stocked trout with bass and bluegill working the warmer layers above.

For an Ivins household it is the choice when Sand Hollow looks like a parking lot. Roughly the same drive, a fraction of the boats, and flat water for a kayak lap after work. The red rock around it catches the evening light in a way that makes people slow down and put the paddle in the water.

Unity Park in Ivins has the city's splash pad, which is the practical answer for small kids on a hot afternoon when nobody wants to deal with a beach. The city's roughly fourteen miles of paved trail run past it, so it doubles as a turnaround point on a bike ride.

Up at Veyo, about twenty five minutes north, a pool fed by a natural warm spring sits in a small canyon at the foot of the Pine Valley Mountains. It is seasonal and privately run, so confirm that it is open and what it costs before you drive up rather than trusting an old review's word for it.

One thing not to plan a swim around: the Santa Clara River, which runs south of town through the river reserve. It carries water, but it is a shallow desert river, not a swimming hole, and it rises hard and fast when storms hit upstream. Watch it from the bank, and keep the swimming to the places above.