Skip to main content

2016 Fall Mountain Trip Part 10; Utah State Route 8, Snow Canyon State Park, and Utah State Route 34

By
Picking up from the previous blog I pulled off of UT 18 on to Utah State Route 8 on Sunset Boulevard in western St. George to head towards Snow Canyon State Park.


This blog is Part 10 in the 2016 Fall Mountain Trip Series, Part 9 can be found here:

2016 Fall Mountain Trip Part 9; Interstate 15 through the Virgin River Gorge

UT 8 is a small 1.3 mile State Highway running from UT 18 on Sunset Boulevard west to Dixie Downs Road.  UT 8 is part of the former routing of US 91 which continued west as what is now signed as "Old Highway 91" to the Arizona State Line.  In 1973 US 91 was deleted south of Brigham City, UT which removed Sunset Boulevard from the State Highway System.

USends.com on US 91

This 1950 Utah State Highway Maps shows how US 91 entered Utah from Arizona and reached St. George which would include the alignment of UT 8.

1950 State Highway Map

In 1972 UT 300 was commissioned south from UT 18 above the rim of Snow Canyon to the southern State Park Boundary.  UT 300 was likely never signed within Snow Canyon as it is common UDOT practice to maintain small roadways unsigned in State Parks.  In 1991 the Utah Transportation Commission authorized UT 8 to be designated over all of existing UT 300 pending improvements south of Snow Canyon State Park.  Roadways included into UT 8 were routed from UT 18 over Sunset Boulevard, through Santa Clara to 200 East, and Center Street in Ivins to UT 300 at Snow Canyon Drive.  Once the new UT 8 was completed in 1996 it absorbed all of UT 300 north to looping back to UT 18.  Oddly UT 8 was truncated to Dixie Downs Road in 1999 which apparently was requested by the Utah Division of Parks and Recreation.

As stated above I started my approach to Snow Canyon State Park via UT 8 on Sunset Boulevard headed west from UT 18.



I took UT 8 to it's terminus at Dixie Downs Road and headed north to Snow Canyon Parkway.  Really the original alignment of UT 8 through Ivins wasn't exactly the most logical in retrospect.  Soon I found myself at the gate of Snow Canyon State Park on Snow Canyon Drive.






Snow Canyon has been a State Park since 1958 and is sandstone canyon similar to Zion Canyon.  Snow Canyon gets it's name from local settlers Lorenzo and Erastus Snow.  Snow Canyon ranges in elevation from about 3,100 feet at the bottom to a peak elevation of 5,023 feet above sea level on the rim.  Snow Canyon State Park has various hiking trails and even has pink sand dunes which are easily accessed from the rapidly ascending Snow Canyon Drive.




After trying a few trails I made my way north through Snow Canyon Park on Snow Canyon Drive to UT 18.







From UT 18 there is a small dirt access road to Panorama Point which overlooks Snow Canyon from the northern rim.



From Snow Canyon I took UT 18 south to UT 34 in St. George.  UT 34 is a small 2.15 mile State Highway running entirely on East St. George Boulevard from UT 18 east to I-15.  Much like UT 8 all of UT 34 was part of US 91 before it was truncated in 1973.



After completing UT 34 I jumped on I-15 briefly to UT 9 to head east towards Zion National Park.


Part 11 of this blog series can be found here:

2016 Fall Mountain Trip Part 11; Zion National Park and Utah State Route 9/The Mount Carmel Highway

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Abandoned US Route 40 in the Truckee River Canyon

By
Within the Truckee River Canyon in the Sierra Nevada range numerous abandoned portions of US Route 40 can be found alongside modern Interstate 80.   This segment of highway was opened during 1926 as a bypass of the Dog Valley Grade which carried the early North Lincoln Highway and Victory Highway. The corridor of the Truckee River Canyon State Highway would be assigned as US Route 40 when the US Route System was commissioned during November 1926. During 1958 the segment of Interstate 80 between Boca, California and the Nevada state line was complete. When Interstate 80 opened east of Boca numerous obsolete portions of US Route 40 were abandoned. Some of these abandoned segments have been incorporated into the Tahoe-Pyramid Trail.  Part 1; the history of US Route 40 in the Truckee River Canyon The Truckee River Canyon for centuries has been an established corridor of travel known to native tribes crossing the Sierra Nevada range.  The first documented wagon crossi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Former California State Route 41 past Bates Station

By
When California State Route 41 was commissioned during August 1934 it was aligned along the then existing Fresno-Yosemite Road north of the San Joaquin River.  Within the Sierra Nevada foothills of Madera County, the original highway alignment ran past Bates Station via what is now Madera County Road 209, part of eastern Road 406 and Road 207.   Bates Station was a stage station plotted during the early 1880s at what was the intersection of the Coarsegold Road and Stockton-Los Angeles Road.   The modern alignment bypassing Bates Station to the east would be reopened to traffic during late 1939.   Part 1; the history of California State Route 41 past Bates Station Bates Station was featured as one of the many 1875-1899 Madera County era towns in the May 21, 1968, Madera Tribune .  Post Office Service at Bates Station is noted to have been established on November 23, 1883 and ran continuously until October 31, 1903.  The postal name was sourced...
Post a Comment
Read more

The William Flinn (not Flynn) Highway - Pittsburgh's Misspelled Street

By
For decades if you traveled along PA Route 8 in Pittsburgh's North Hills suburbs, you would have noticed signs that read "William Flynn Highway" at every intersection.  Even today, many businesses and residences have their addresses listed as XXXX William Flynn Highway.  However, it's not William Flynn Highway, it is William FLINN Highway - and the gentleman who it is named for has a long and storied past in Pittsburgh's infrastructure history. William Flinn was born in England in 1851; however later that year, his family emigrated to the United States and would settle in Pittsburgh.  A 10-year-old school dropout, Flinn grew interested in politics and would join the Allegheny County Republican Party in 1877 as a ward commissioner and a seat on the Board of Fire Commissioners.  Flinn would serve in the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives and Senate from 1877 to 1902. (1) Flinn along with James J. Booth would found the Booth and Flinn construction firm ...
2 comments
Read more