Southern Utah

Southern Utah (often referred to as Utah's Dixie & Red Cliffs) is a region in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Utah, encompassing the counties of Iron and Washington.

Cities and communities

• 1 Cedar City — a small city, home to Southern Utah University and near the northwestern section of Zion National Park, as well as Cedar Breaks National Monument
• 2 Hurricane — a rapidly growing town along the road to Zion
• 3 Springdale — a nice, albeit overpriced, resort town on Zion's western border
• 4 St. George — county seat of Washington County, which boasts 2 huge LDS temples; home to Utah Tech University, and has countless outdoor activity opportunities in the surrounding areas
• 5 Middleton — town in Saint George; a historical site with a shopping center
• 6 Green Springs, small community, has some parks, has a golf course, has some ponds.

Other destinations

• 1 Cedar Breaks National Monument — a colossal natural amphitheater of multi-hued rocky cliffs
• 2 Dixie National Forest — the largest national forest in the state (1,900,000 acres!) is mostly high altitude evergreen forest, with lots of hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, climbing, and even spelunking possibilities
• 3 Snow Canyon State Park — a pretty state park full of red sandstone bluffs, just northwest of Saint George
• 4 Zion National Park — one of America's most popular parks is breathtaking and has lots of excellent hikes ranging from very easy to very challenging, but all of them rewarding

Understand

A road goes through a sandstone arch in Dixie National Forest

The part of Utah known as Dixie is the southwestern corner of the state. It bears this incongruous name (more commonly associated with the South region of the United States, far to the southeast of Utah) because early settlers were successful in practicing some of the same agriculture as in the southeastern United States. Historically it has been sparsely populated, but the growing popularity of St. George as both a retirement community and a jumping-off point for outdoor recreation is increasing the population rapidly.

Get in

• St. George Regional Airport (SGU ^IATA has flights from Salt Lake City, Denver, Los Angeles and Phoenix.