Tour the Jacob Hamblin Home
On the historic drive · Guided tours daily · No charge
An 1863 house, still on its original street, with a guide who will walk you through it every day of the week and take nothing for it. That combination is rare enough that it belongs at the top of any list like this.
Allow thirty to forty five minutes and confirm the hours first, since they move with the season. The full version is on the Hamblin Home guide.
Walk the petroglyph trail on Land Hill
Off Old Highway 91 · About 3.5 miles round trip · No charge
The Tempi'po'op Trail climbs the mesa above the Santa Clara River past panel after panel of Ancestral Puebloan rock art and the remains of a farmstead roughly a thousand years old. It is open to anybody willing to walk it, and it costs nothing.
Go in a cool month, go in the morning, and read the petroglyph guide before you do. Never touch or chalk a panel; that is the price of admission.
Ride or walk the Santa Clara River Reserve
Cove Wash trailhead, off Santa Clara Drive · Public BLM land
The mesa country behind town is open BLM land, which means the trail system that draws riders here from other states is free to use. Barrel Roll is the classic; Sidewinder and Precipice fill in around it.
It is multi use, so hikers and horses share it with bikes. The trail by trail version is on the riding guide.
Watch the Swiss Days parade
The historic drive · Late September · Free to watch
The town's own holiday runs three days every late September, and the parade down the historic drive costs nothing but a chair and an early arrival for the shade.
It is the single best introduction to this place. The rest of the weekend, and the 1861 history behind it, is on the Swiss Days guide.
Heritage Square and the town museum
Two blocks up the drive · Limited hours · No charge
The 1907 Relief Society House, the old tithing granary, and the town history museum sit together on one small block off the historic drive. Twenty minutes, no admission.
Hours are limited and worth confirming. Pair it with the Hamblin Home and you have the whole pioneer story in about an hour.
Play on the courts at Gubler Park
In town · Six pickleball courts · Public
Gubler Park carries the town's sports load: ball fields, sand volleyball, and six pickleball courts that fill up on a cool evening. All public, all free to use.
In a climate where courts work twelve months a year, that adds up to a lot of free recreation. The details are on the parks and pickleball guide.
Canyon View Park and its trailhead
In town · Tennis and courts · Trail access
The town's other park adds tennis, more courts, and access to the trail country behind town, which makes it the easiest way to get onto the reserve without driving to a dirt lot.
It is the quieter of the two parks, and on a spring evening that is the whole appeal.
Walk the historic drive end to end
Old US-91 through town · Any time · Free
The street itself is the exhibit. Santa Clara Drive was the Arrowhead Trail and then US-91, and once you know that, the pioneer buildings and the width of the road stop being background and start being the story.
Twenty minutes on foot will show you more than an hour of driving through. The reason it survived at all is on the Old Highway 91 guide.
Drive Old Highway 91 northwest
Toward Gunlock and Veyo · Free to drive · Fees at the state park
The road out of town past the Shivwits lands is one of the best drives in the county and costs nothing but fuel. Gunlock Reservoir is about fifteen miles up and Veyo is around twenty five minutes.
Day use fees apply inside the state park, so if you want the version that stays free, drive it and enjoy the country rather than parking at the water.
Watch the sun leave the river corridor
The Santa Clara River · Evenings · Free
The cheapest good thing here is the light. The river runs along the bottom of town, and on a clear evening the low sun does something to the rock above it that keeps working no matter how many times you have seen it.
That river is also the reason the town exists and the reason it once nearly went away, which is on the river guide.
Three notes on doing it free
- Free does not mean unscheduled. The Hamblin Home and the museum both keep hours that move with the season, so confirm before you drive over.
- The trails cost nothing and ask something. Water, real shoes, a cool month, and hands off any rock art panel. That is the whole deal.
- The parks are the sleeper. Public courts usable twelve months a year add up to more free recreation than most visitors ever notice.
