Explore St. George’s Red Cliffs Reserve

When you step over one of the Reserve’s distinctive “step-over” gates, you are entering a special place, a place that is a privilege to visit. Not just another mountain bike trail, not just another horseback ride. You are entering a 62,000-acre scenic wildlife reserve set aside to protect the Mojave Desert tortoise and other rare plants and animals. While the impetus was species protection , another result is St. George benefits from a stunning, pristine, desert reserve embracing the northern boundary of the community. Easy to get to, easy to enjoy.
At the merging of three great ecosystems, the Mojave Desert, the Great Basin, and the Colorado Plateau, the Reserve is biologically rich with a unique array of animals and plants. The Reserve contains the most northern populations of the desert tortoise, Gila monster, sidewinder rattlesnake, and chuckwalla – reptiles typically associated with hotter and more southerly deserts, like the Mojave. A significant portion of the shrubs in this area, such as blackbrush, are more commonly found in the cooler Great Basin Desert. The conditions in the region are such that several endemic species, those which occur no where else in the world, do occur here.

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