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| | | Mount Bangs - Yellow Knolls, AZ | | | |
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Mount Bangs - Yellow Knolls, AZ
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| Hiking | 12.10 Miles |
2,749 AEG |
| | Hiking | 12.10 Miles | | | |
| 2,749 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Mount Bangs has been a hike that I have been wanting to do, and the stars finally aligned just right.
We spent the night in St. George, Utah the night before, and we got back to St. George early enough after hiking Bangs to go hike the Yellow Knolls Trail in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, on the outskirts of St. George.
Mount Bangs
Getting to Mount Bangs involved driving about 45 miles on dirt roads. These BLM roads were in good condition -- we were driving 40-60 mph on the first of two roads that we were on, Road 1069. The next road -- Road 1004 -- was also in good condition most of the way. The road got a little rougher about 3 miles from the TH, and we decided to park my buddy's CRV about 1.25 miles from the TH; so the extra road walking added 2.5 miles RT and just over 400 feet of elevation gain to the hike.
The scenery was nice on the drive in, especially on a lush, green plateau a few miles from the TH.
The trail up to the summit had nice views and was nice to hike on up to about 1/4 or so from the summit. There was some legitimate class 3 rock and boulder scrambling once you got to the summit block, where you had to go up and across some boulders to get to the summit. There was a tad bit of exposure, but nothing really problematic as long as you stayed focused on what you were doing. There were nice 360 degree views at the summit, which I enjoyed. I saw the benchmark disk, one reference mark, some height of light remnants, and a summit register log while at the summit.
This is a great hike if you like a remote hike with some solitude, as long as you don't mind a bit of rock and boulder scrambling.
Yellow Knolls
The Yellow Knolls Trail is a nice short hike in a pretty patch of desert. There is some interesting geology, and there were a fair number of wildflowers blooming. The "knolls" provide a good example of jointing in Navajo sandstone, similar to Checkerboard Mesa in Zion. In fact, I'd call this area "Zion-lite". The trail is 2 miles each way, and there are plenty of opportunities to get off the trail and climb on the many slick rocks adjacent to the trail.
This is an easy hike, and it would be a good one to take some kids on -- however, it is fun for adults also!
Distance and elevation gain for the two hikes are below. Stats above are the sum of the two.
Mount Bangs: 8.0 miles with 2,234 feet of AEG
Yellow Knolls: 4.1 miles with 515 feet of AEG |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
There were several wildflowers on the Mount Bangs hike, and quite a few wildflowers on the Yellow Knolls hike. |
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