Scout Cave Trail offers wildflowers, river beds, lava rock formations, beautiful desert landscapes, and of course, a cave!
Distance
Scout Cave Trail is a 4.4-mile out and back hike located just outside Snow Canyon State Park, near Ivins, Utah.
The trailhead sign states “5.5 miles”, but my Apple Watch disagrees. It’s about 2.2 miles each way.
Location
Right before the entrance to Snow Canyon State Park, you’ll see a parking lot to the left. The trailhead is located directly across the road from the parking lot.
Trailhead Coordinates: 37°10’41.1″N 113°38’41.7″W
This trail is the perfect combination of both easy and moderate. This hike is also dog and family-friendly, with just a small bit of scrambling to get to the cave at the end.
best time to hike
Scout Cave Trail is best used from March until October. We did this hike at the end of September and the weather was perfect! In the hotter months, this trail would best be done in the early morning. Avoid hiking in the direct sunlight. The desert is no joke.
Keep in mind that like most Southern Utah hikes, there is no shade on the trail, so plan accordingly.
The shadows you see here are from the placement of the sun. We hiked it right after sunrise.
You’ll see the beautiful desert landscape, wildflowers, and lava beds!
easy to navigate
There are many well-placed trail markers along the entire route, making it easy to stay on course.
Apparently you used to be able to drive all the way up to the base of the cave before they built the Entrada community.
Now you must do the entire route around it, which leads you right up to the residential neighborhood.
Desert Staircase
The trail winds around to a wooden staircase. Great photo opportunities and a great outdoor workout. I called it nature’s Stairmaster. Or Stairmonster, depending on your perspective.
Scout Cave
As you get closer to the mountain, you’ll see the cave!
From there, you simply make your way to the top.
Scout Cave Coordinates: 37°10’05.3″N 113°37’44.6″W
The views from the top are amazing!
Explore the cave, enjoy the scenery, take lots of pictures, then head back down!
You can’t beat this easy, relatively short hike that leads to some amazing views and photo opportunities!
19 Responses
Jessi, these photos are uuuuhhh-mazing!!! Now I can see why you were struggling with which ones to post on Instagram. Okay, I SERIOUSLY need to come hike with you guys. Just beautiful!
Kat
https://www.hikingillustrated.com
Thank you so much! That means a lot! And yesssss please come hike with me!
I would LOVE to do this! Looks absolutely amazing and I love hiking. Caves always hold so many stories that they will never be able to tell and we aren’t able to decipher. Super exciting.
Teresa Maria | Outlandish Blog
Thank you so much! There’s so many hidden gems in Southern Utah! You need to come explore!
Photos are amazing.? I noted your every single hiking location.
Yay! Thank you so much for reading!
Those photos are stunning! Nature is a true blessing. Your posts are always really showing how lovely earth is. Thanks for sharing this, really lovely.
Amanda | smartgirlymindset.com
Thank you so much! I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to read and for the compliments!
I’m far from a nature/hiking person. I love to look at scenery like this…but from afar lol These look absolutely incredible! What a great experience 🙂
Haha! It’s okay to live vicariously through me! Thanks for reading!
I’m always jealous of your beautiful hikes in Utah. I live in California and we definitely don’t have views like this! I have to visit soon!
I used to live all over California! We do have sand here, just no ocean…haha! Thanks for reading!
These pictures are amazing. I’ve never went hiking before, but this makes me want to experience it.
OMG you have never hiked?! Come to Utah and I’ll show you around!
That trail looks so beautiful! I am just getting my husband into the hiking side of outdoor travel more now and I’d love to take him here!
You should totally go! It’s a fun place to explore!
What a great post. I would love to experience a desert hike but I bet it’s hot! The “stair monster” looks like hard work but with the amazing arid scenery all around it must be so worthwhile. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read! All of our hikes are super hot, unless you hike in the winter or early morning/evening! Totally worth it, though!