Name: Toadstools Trail
Rating: 4.1

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Features Commonly Backpacked · Views

Family Friendly Easy hike with unusual things to see and climb on.

Overview

This family-friendly trail leads up a wide, shallow canyon with rim walls striped in white, reddish brown, and gold. Toadstools are geologic features that have a hard cap rock that sits on top of a more easily-weathered sandstone tower, and resemble large mushrooms. Hoodoos are wider, oddly-shaped towers without the cap rock.

Description

The trailhead is roughly 1.5 miles west of the Paria Ranger Station on Hwy 89. There is a small parking area marked with a sign and a trail register. The sign warns about negotiating soft sand, but there was very little of this.

The trail is marked and easy to follow. After the first few hundred yards across desert terrain, the canyon narrows somewhat and the trail stays very near the (usually dry) creek bed. Overall, there is little elevation gain, but there are many ups and downs of 2-5 feet each. After about 0.6 miles, at a small creek branch where the main creek bed goes to the left, continue straight ahead up a short hill to the beautiful Red Toadstool, the most famous in the area.

Take time to explore the surrounding area where you'll find many other nearby toadstools. Return the way you came.