Pioneer Park is a 52 acre city park in St. George Utah that boasts beautiful red rocks, trails, mini slot canyons, rock climbing routes, picnic areas, and more!  My family has stopped here many times on trips and I visited many more times when I lived in St. George for college. 

This park brings back a lot of memories of late nights sitting on top of Dixie Rock or hiking through the Little Narrows (some call it the St. George Narrows).  This is a great place for kids and adults and if you are planning on spending any time in St. George or even if you are just passing through I recommend a stop at Pioneer Park.  There is so much to see and do here – you won’t be disappointed!

It’s amazing how busy this place has gotten in recent years and to help with the increased visitors the city made numerous improvements including adding more parking and even restrooms.  When I was going to Dixie College in 2005 I remember having the entire park to myself on some days.  Now, I had trouble finding a parking spot.

Pioneer Park has many places for you to rock climb and rappel.  There are lots of anchors on top of Dixie Rock and also on the eastern side of the park near the radio tower.  Climb at your own risk.

The area is set up as an open area which means you are free to explore and climb on rocks as you please but just be careful of course.  There are two main parking areas: one by Dixie Rock (west side) and one just before you enter the road loop (east side).  But all areas are connected by trails so if you park in one area you could easily just walk to wherever you wanted.  There are numerous shaded picnic tables too!

I usually start by hiking around Dixie Rock to get an amazing view of St. George.  Dixie Rock is the rock that has the “DIXIE” painted in white on it.  A local scout made the metal bridge that allows easier access to the top of the rock as an eagle scout project.  However, you can still see the carved “stairs” people made to climb up the old way before the bridge was built.   There are no fences or railings on Dixie Rock so if you have kids who like to run around this is the place you will want to really watch them.

The Pioneer Cabin is near Dixie Rock and is another great place to see.  The cabin was built among the red rocks with wooden slats and cement placed on top to protect it from the elements.  There is a fireplace at the back which has clearly been used many times.

Next, is the Little Narrows or St. George Narrows.  This fun mini slot canyon is named after the Zion National Park Narrows hike.  The Little Narrows are a very tight squeeze for me but children and thinner adults could make it through just fine.  The entire mini slot extends for a little ways and you can either exit through the normal route or through the “birth canal”.  Both are fun options but one is tighter as you can imagine!

Behind Pioneer Park there are many trails in what is called Pioneer Hills.   I won’t go into too much detail because it deserves its own Trek but these trails are great for mountain biking and trail running!  I have seen many desert tortoise and even a few coyotes out there.

Red Hills Desert Garden is also near the entrance to Pioneer Park.  This is an incredible area and will get its own Trek too but feel free to check it out!