Birthing Cave Behind the Reservoir

This trail travels from Hurricane to the historic town of Gunlock, Utah, where it continues on a graded dirt road through the high desert.  We wind through a little red canyon, which is a fun introduction to rock crawling for first timers, then on our way to a couple of caves nested in the walls of sliprock fins.  The first one is a precarious climb to get to, but the climb is probably worth it when you are able to see a table-top sized rock that has hundreds of petroglyphs carved in it.  Since it is in a cave, the carvings are incredibly preserved.  The Birthing Cave is within a few hundred yards to the south.  It is an easy climb to get to the open cave with quite a few Indian pictographs painted on the ceiling.   We end the trail on a very scenic ride around the Gunlock Reservoir on our way back to pavement. 

Scenery

High desert with Pinion Pine, Mesquite, and Juniper.  Some red rock hills and sandy areas.  There are views of the Mormon Mountains and Utah Hill areas south of Motoqua and Shivwits. By climbing up to the top of the rocks, you get great panoramas of the southwest desert and mountain ranges.

Surface

Highway from the fairgrounds to Gunlock area.  Then mostly graded dirt with some sandy two-track and loose rock. High clearance vehicles with 4-wheel drive required.

Trail Details

When traveling up through Red Canyon, 4 wheel low and a high clearance vehicle will be required.