Ice House Trail

In case you haven't heard, we moved!  After considering the possibility of relocating, for over a year, we felt that it was the right time to downsize both our house and property . . . And so, after saying our goodbyes to Hurricane, we moved down the road to Washington, Utah.  Not that Washington is that far away (maybe 10 miles as the crow flies), but after living in the same home for 26 years it was still a major life changing event for us!

Now that we are settled in the Green Springs area, our first "order of business" was to explore one of several trailheads that begin in our community.  Today's pick was the Ice House Trail that so prominently snakes it's way up a mesa viewable from our new home.  It certainly was good to leave the packing boxes behind and get on to another outdoor adventure!

Access to the trailhead is located in the Green Springs Villas neighborhood . . .
 Parking spots have been provided, so you don't have to park on the street . . . very nice!

 The Red Cliffs Desert Reserve offers over 130 miles of non-motorized trails . . . 
You can hike, mountains bike or ride your horse on many of the trails

Today we are taking the trail to the left . . . we'll do Mustang Pass another time

Ice House crosses the Middleton Powerline Trail and begins making it's way up the mesa

Scorpion weed  . . . strange name for a pretty flower

The trail ascends on the southwest side of Broken Mesa

It's a nice gradual climb on what appears to be a very old road . . . sure would have hated
to have been the one tasked with forging the road from all the lava rock!
Rumor has it that this trail was used to bring ice down from a storage cabin near the
Pine Valley Mountains in the early part of the century . . . and thus the name

Looking south, from atop the mesa, toward Green Springs and our new home

We continued north to get nice views of the Red Cliffs

Plains Prickly Pear cacti were just starting to bloom

So delicate yet so prickly

The diverse landscape of the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve is unique and special . . .
Kent is planning a future hike that will take us across the ridgeline of the middle portion of the Red Cliffs . . .    they say it is doable . . . we shall find out!

White flowering bush

Pink Sego lily

From our house we can see this bush on the end of the mesa . . . 
We always thought it was a flag someone had placed up there . . .
We were surprised it was only a bush when we hiked along the mesa rim on our way back! 

 We are thankful there are several places in Washington County to access the Reserve . . .
 It goes to show that you only need a couple of hours to see some amazing scenery!

Well, now we know what's on top of the mesa near our new home!  It was certainly nice that it had rained the previous evening and combined with the cool temperatures, made for an enjoyable hike through the springtime cacti and flowers that are now coming into full bloom.  Altogether, we hiked about three miles (r/t) and gained approximately 600 feet of elevation.  More importantly, it opened our eyes to several more hikes that we want to do!

Our Hurricane home (1998-2024) . . . Thanks for the memories!

Our new Washington home (2024-present) . . . Time to make some new memories!