Camp at La Verkin Overlook, UT

This year my brother and I decided to skip the usual trip back home to Minnesota to spend Christmas with our family. Instead we decided to pack up the camper and head out on a 7 day road trip through the surrounding states of Colorado. We didn't have a plan, just figured we would 'wing it' and see where the road would take us. Our father happened to be on vacation in St. George, Utah for Christmas and decided we would head there first.

We loaded up the truck with everything we thought we would need over the next week and took off on the six hour drive to St. George, early Christmas Eve morning. We made our way to town by late afternoon and met up with our father. As the sun began to set, we knew we needed to find a camping spot for the night. With a little research online, we found an overlook with established camping spots about 20 miles away. Off we were, and we made it to the overlook just as the sun had completely disappeared behind the horizon, leaving us with no idea how the view looked. 

We put on our headlamps and began to pop up the camper and set everything up for the night. Unfortunately the temperature had begun to drop and the light rain that had started was slowly turning into heavy snow. We stayed up late that night, playing rummy, laughing, enjoying a few beers, and discussing how this was a pretty neat way to spend Christmas Eve. We would occasionally go outside to explore as the snow continued to fall. At 6:30 am, I awoke and immediately bundled up in layers and bolted out of the camper. I could hardly wait to see the view and how our random selection of a camping spot had turned out.

I think my first words when stepping out of the camper were, "Oh, wow". The ground was covered with fresh snow, the sky was beginning to clear up, the sun beginning to peak out from behind the mountains casting colors of yellow, pink, and orange upon the scattered clouds.

We spent Christmas morning, exploring the overlook and enjoying the vast views of canyons, mountains and the illuminating lights from the towns of La Verkin, Virgin, and Hurricane. Sometimes pulling into a campsite at night, can pay off greatly as you wait in suspense for the sun to unveil the land around you.  

For anyone that is traveling in the area, this is a wonderful spot to camp. Located off the same road towards the entrance of Zion National Park, off of UT-9E and then turn right on La Verkin Overlook Rd.