This super cool rock formation is located in the Red Mountain Wilderness conservation area located near Gunlock, Utah. Driving there took about 35 minutes from St. George and we felt like we were headed out to the middle of no where but it was well worth the effort! We visited at the beginning of April which was wonderful and wouldn't recommend doing this during the summer months as there's no shade.
There's some disagreement about whether the name is The Vortex or The Bowl and to make matters more confusing the trailhead we followed was called Lower Sand Cove but we downloaded the map ahead on AllTrails and that worked great. It's a 2.3 mile out & back and we were glad to have the navigation since it was mostly meandering often with no apparent trail or signs indicating which way to go.
The start of the hike was fairly flat and we passed interesting colored sandstone, petrified lava flows and various types of desert vegetation.
Then we began to gain elevation as we climbed up to a rock formation that looked like giant vertebrae along a spine! The views from here were beautiful.
After enjoying some time here we continued over the rocks to reach our final destination which was just astonishing looking! It's a deep bowl carved out from the winds and weather and looks like something out of jurassic park. There was water in the bottom of a few pools from recent rain.
We had fun climbing around the various mounds here which offered fantastic views from every direction before turning around and heading back.
Just a really great area to experience and we loved it.
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