With the days getting shorter and hiking season nearing an end, I knew I wanted to go on another hike, but it would have to be a short one. I decided on Confluence Park in Hurricane.
Confluence Park is a 344 acre unmaintained park managed by Washington County and contains 10 different hiking trails. Some trails are as short as .3 of a mile and some as long as 2 miles. Of course, you can combine multiple trails and make a longer hike if desired. Within the park, the Ash Creek and La Verkin Creek drain into the Virgin River.
There are a number of different trail heads. I have always gone to the trail head at the end of 200 West in hurricane. To get there, go north on 200 West off of State Street and take the road until it ends. The last few hundred yards are on a well maintained dirt road past a few homes on the right. There will be a place to park your car by pulling off to the side of the road.
The fence marking confluence park |
The normal route which starts from the parking area at the end of 200 West is on a trail called Tortoise Track. It gets it's name because it finishes by the desert tortoise preserve. The last time my kids and I were down there last summer, a worker was in the preserve (an open area surrounded by barbed wire fences) feeding and watering the tortoises. He let my kids and I come it and view the tortoises up close. It was a great experience for my kids.
This is the intersection where the Confluence View trail intersects the Tortoise Track trail. The Tortoise Track heads straight while the Confluence View turns off to the left. |
The Confluence View Trail intersects Tortoise Track just a few hundred yards past the fence and it is a faint old jeep road where it crosses. We took a left and went down hill towards the Virgin River. The Confluence View trail winds down under the cliffs we had just been on. The cliffs over head cast a shadow on the trail and both Liz and I were anxious to get back to the sunlight to warm up a bit.
The Virgin River from the trail. |
Once past the desert tortoise preserve, the trail splits and the one that heads up the hill (and back to the car) is the Tortoise Track trail. We headed back up the hill and made it to our car at 11:55. Our total hike was abut 1.3 miles. This will be a fun area to explore further.
The view at the start of the hike. |
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