If you want to get THE best view of St. George, then Pioneer Park is the place to go! It's not much further up the road from where we were in the previous post, and the big rock overlook is easy to spot from anywhere in the city. Such a prominent landmark makes it easy to identify and locate, and if you get lost you could surely ask any local and be pointed the right direction. There's a bit of a trek to get to the viewpoint after parking, but it's nothing terribly arduous so don't worry if you're not in outstanding physical shape. If you can climb some stairs, you'll be okay. If you struggle with a narrow stairwell, then be forewarned, the route to the top of the rock is a roughly defined stairway in stone that could be slippery or a little difficult if you have mobility difficulties or it's just rained. No rain fell on us this day, so we're grateful for that, and we were able to get a photo together near the edge of the large rock thanks to a friendly couple who happened to pop up to take in the view around the time we did. We traded phones and cameras for photos, an even exchange.
I don't know if you can tell from my body language or not, but I was ready to be away from the edge. Despite working at the Stratosphere tower on the 108th floor for years, I'm not too keen on heights, especially out in the open like this with the wind blowing my hair about. We got our photos and took some for the other duo, then went back to our hike where we were less precariously perched near the edge. There's a lot more to the park than just this big rock look out point, after all! It's a pretty massive park, with 52 acres full of hiking trails and biking paths. We'll definitely have to make a point of it to explore the area more in depth next time we find ourselves out in the area. The colors in the stones remind me of home, Valley of Fire and Red Rock, but all the trees and greenery add a lush contrast to the usual views we get. It's not that Vegas and the nearby areas don't have greenery, any trip out to Mount Charleston to admire the bristlecone pines and aspen will quickly affirm that we, too, can have forests, but these are different. While landscaping choices are going to divert from the traditional Fremont Cottonwoods or Honey mesquite, the fauna is going to be subtly different from what we're used to in our stretch of desert.
It's always a good idea to try to get a new perspective whenever possible. This was a nice glimpse of the city and we enjoyed our visit. We'll definitely make a trip back out this way at some point in the future, perhaps when we can spend more than a day exploring all that it has to offer. With so many miles of hiking trails, and the nearby nature reserves, there's so much to see and we'll definitely have to plan an overnight van-stay.
See you tomorrow!
💖
XOXO,
NAU
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