Trip Planning: Dixie National Forest
Another weekend, another excuse for adventure! As a geologist, I have a large group of friends that also happen to be geologists. This allows for excellent, spur of the moment, or planned, trips that don’t require a ton of craziness. My friend Harvey reached out to a group of 6 of us, about using the long weekend to camp. With all the chaos going on in the world, we figured we can still social distance in a primitive campground location. Only a few of us wanted to go this time, but we try to camp at least once a month, so that’s okay.
We decided we wanted to limit our drive for this trip to two hours, partially, because we wanted to stay close and since we weren’t going to spend the whole weekend out here, we wanted to maximize our time.
Harvey and I decided to start scouring the internet for our location to camp. We knew we wanted it to be somewhere we hadn’t been before. Having just been to Zion National Park, I wanted to go back to southwestern Utah ASAP, but figured I would look into some other locations as well.
I started to drop pins in areas I knew where off the beaten path for Nevada. Goldfield, Nevada is a small town located in Esmeralda County with a population of 268 in 2010. I’ve driven through several times and loved the scenery. be careful coming down the mountain from Beatty! I was pulled over for going wayyyy too fast once. There’s a few interesting locations out by Goldfield, including the International Car Forest, which I have yet to visit. As an old mining town, Goldfield has a lot of history to offer, and it is nestled between gorgeous mountains. Rockhounding in this area is a lot of fun!
Outside of Goldfield, NV
The St. George area is full of wilderness locations, and is also very close to Zion National Park, as well as the Virgin River, full of adventure! The pool in my neighborhood is closed, but after putting my feet in the river in Zion National Park, I couldn’t wait for my next water destination. A little farther east is the town of Hurricane. Since I love perusing small towns and supporting local shops, I decided to look up swimming spots in Hurricane. I came across Red Cliffs National Recreation Area, and can we just talk about how gorgeous this area is. There’s plenty of actual campsites up here, but it fills up quick! Dixie National Forest butts up against the recreation area to the Northwest. There’s plenty of actual campsites here, but they fill up quickly! We can get a tad bit rowdy when camping and have no interest in disturbing others, so these areas work best for us. We make sure to follow all Forest Service and BLM guidelines for these specific areas. Always practice “Leave No Trace” policies, and be sure to clean up after yourself. I do my best to find five to ten pieces of trash to take back with me when I’m on a trip like this. The southern end of Dixie ranges from St. George to Leeds.
After comparing locations in Nevada and Utah, we decided somewhere around Leeds, Utah would be our camping destination. Dixie National Forest allows for dispersed camping, so we decided to look for a spot as soon as we got there. This isn’t how everyone likes to camp, but since these are free, non-reservable sites, this is our only option and with two million acres of land, we weren’t worried about finding a great place to set up camp. Leeds, Utah is only a two hour drive from Las Vegas so this was the perfect fit for our overnight trip! I still checked in on a few adventures within Zion National Park as the bikers last weekend had me intrigued and I discovered a shop to rent tubes from and float down the river, if that kind of thing floats your boat. Tubing definitely excited me although I wasn’t sure this was something we would get to do this time.
The location of our campsite.
After agreeing on this camping location, it was time to plan out the food. I figured if I prepped early enough in the week, I’d be able to eat it sooner too. I made pot roast with a side of mashed cauliflower for dinner. For breakfast, I made egg salad wraps with bacon bits, and then for lunch I made one of my favorite salads with charcuterie trays for snacking. Check out my post all about foods I like to bring while camping here!
Charcuterie!
White Cheddar, Green Olives, Pepperoni, Spanish Sampler from Trader Joe’s, Brie, Kalamata Olives, Pastrami
All I have left to do to get ready for this trip is pack up my camping equipment. I love to over-pack like a crazy person, but it is what it is and better safe than sorry. I brought my sleeping pad for the one night excursion as well as my sleeping bag that’s rated to 20 degrees Fahrenheit. I also brought a fleece tie blanket, given to me by my sorority little for my 22nd birthday, along with my tent and a duffle bag full of the rest of my goods. Something extra I brought this trip, that I don’t usually bring, was this bolster pillow. I used them at the gym during yoga and knew what a great addition it would make to my camping gear. With everything organized, my water bladder filled, and sunscreen at the ready, I put everything by the door so that Friday, after work, I could race home and hit the road!
Where are you going next?
