Whiterocks Amphitheater
A Look At How It Changes Through The Seasons
Categories: Family Friendly, Hiking, Utah
White Rocks Amphitheater is a very popular evening hangout for locals in St. George, and ESPECIALLY wedding/family photographers and young female video bloggers. Sometimes a few of them act like the whole area is their private studio. It’s so popular that parking can be difficult to find. But, it’s a really fun little excursion that only takes 10 minutes at most to get to. As such, we have gone there many times to walk the dog and sometimes I go there looking for some fun evening exercise.
I should point out that it’s not literally an amphitheater, in terms of a performance venue. But it is a naturally occurring carved out bowl of rock with a sloped floor.
Approaching the amphitheater in late summer.
At the back of the amphitheater is a usually dry pond created by a very low man made dam that I imagine was for watering cattle.
In winter rain tends to collect and freeze in the basin, hopefully lasting until early summer.
John tests the waters.
An ice stream tries to flow out of the basin.
In the back of the basin is a rift in the rock wall offering a peek at Snow Canyon.
I think most of the water in the pond comes from rain but there is also a trickling seep spring in the back of the basin. It does not flow all year.
Much of the year it’s bone dry.
Summer
Winter
I think most of the water in the pond comes from rain but there is also a trickling seep spring in the back of the basin. It does not flow all year.
We decided to head down a notch at the back of the amphitheater.
Before we headed down there was some picture taking to be done.
A neat little overhang on the way down.
The way down is steeper than it looks from above but it only takes about 20 minutes.
It does get brushy near the bottom.
Exiting the notch.
Homeless panhandlers can be a real problem at the entrance of Snow Canyon’s many side canyons.
Once down it’s just a matter of walking out to the White Rocks Trail and looping back around.
Near the end of the loop is the opportunity to do a little more exploring of the white rocks.
The final climb up to the lava flow that leads back to the trail head is very sandy.