Our Impressions of Hurricane, Utah
Hurricane was everything we had hoped for in a smaller size town. There is one road through the center of town (State Street), with a small Main Street. State and national parks abound in the area. While the centerpiece of our visit to the area was Zion National Park, we wanted to be a little more centrally located, so we chose Hurricane as our home base.
Our favorite way of seeing Zion? Zion Jeep Tours, with Andrew as our tour guide and driver (more information about this below). Traveling into the park requires parking at the very busy Visitor’s Center and taking very packed shuttle buses to other locations. It wasn’t the natural experience we expected, but was similar to our experience at the Grand Canyon. Driving through the 1.1-mile tunnel through the mountains was a new experience!
Attractions
Geographically Hurricane is in southwestern Utah. Hurricane is known as being the gateway to Zion National Park and is close to many other interesting communities, for example, Cedar City (40 miles north of Hurricane), Grafton (22 miles east of Hurricane), Springdale (20 miles east of Hurricane) and St. George (18 miles southwest of Hurricane).
Cedar City
This is a smaller community with a nice downtown area. We visited the Frontier Homestead State Park and Museum. There were many exhibits describing frontier life in the area, many old wagons and frontier buildings to explore. It was worth a visit!
Grafton
Grafton is now a ghost town. If you are not careful, you will miss the turn off! There is a schoolhouse/church, and a few other houses you can explore. It was first inhabited in the mid 1850’s, but by 1945 the last resident left Grafton due to repeated floods and draughts.
Hurricane
We visited the Hurricane Valley Pioneer Museum in Hurricane. This was an interesting museum about the history of people arriving in Hurricane. There were lots of artifacts and pictures from the early days.
Springdale
We booked a three-hour private Zion Jeep Tour. Andrew was our driver and tour guide. He understood exactly what we were looking for and surpassed our expectations. One of the best parts of the tour? We only saw 1 other vehicle in 3 hours!
Zion National Park.
We saw so much more on the Jeep tour than we did by car. Exploring Zion is done by leaving your vehicle at the Visitor’s Center and taking a shuttle bus to different locations. Standing up on an un-air-conditioned bus is not my idea of a good time. Get to the Visitor’s Center by 7 a.m. or you may not be able to park!
The Tunnel
The Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel is a 1.1-mile tunnel through the mountains. It is a must do. Construction began in the late 1920s, and the tunnel was dedicated on July 4, 1930. It was the longest tunnel of its type in the United States. It provides direct access for travel between Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, and Zion National Parks.
St. George
The St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site is located in a commercial area of St. George. It was quite a surprise! It is an original fossil site and museum. The museum preserves thousands of dinosaur footprints right at the original site of discovery!
Food and Drink
Hurricane: If you are in Hurricane, you MUST eat at the Main Street Café! It is locally owned, with good prices, plentiful portions. We ate here twice!
Springdale: Oscar’s Café has the best food in Springdale! The hamburgers, both beef and veggie, were excellent! Indoor and outdoor seating. We ate here twice!
St. George: Irmita’s Casita Mexican Restaurant is locally owned/family owned. The burritos are easily big enough for two meals!
Fun Facts
Hurricane was first settled in 1896 and received its name after a whirlwind blew the top off of a buggy that Erastus Snow was riding in. Snow exclaimed, “Well, that was a hurricane. We’ll name this ‘Hurricane Hill’.”
At the Hurricane Valley Pioneer Museum there is a wedding cake that is 103 years old! The first 5 layers of the wedding cake were eaten at the wedding reception. The top 3 layers were stored for later use. The cake was passed down to other generations until it was donated to the Museum. We can’t say we have ever seen a 103-year-old cake!
Hurricane, Utah
| Population | 21,808 |
| Founded | 1896 |
| Elevation | 3,242 ft. |
| Average income | $26,817 |
| Average price of housing | $680,000 |
| Median age of the population | 38 years |
Website: https://www.cityofhurricane.com/
Home Base: The Campground
For us, a campground is not our destination. Our RV is self-contained. Except for water, electric and sewer rarely do we use campground services or amenities. We are explorers, not campground reviewers!
We stayed on site 46 at Zion View Campground in Hurricane. It is conveniently located near businesses and restaurants in Hurricane and I-15. 30- and 50-amp service were available. The campground was clean and well maintained. There were 50 sites, 2 pull-through and 48 back-in sites. We had a FHU (water-sewer-electric) site. The sites were wide and long on concrete. Our pull-through site was long enough to leave the Jeep hooked up and still have both vehicles off the road. There was good cell phone coverage (Verizon) and a good open southern sky for our satellite. No grass and no trees, but great views from every angle. Zion View also has four food trucks at the entrance of the campground. Very convenient!
However, you will hear dogs barking in this campground. If you are at the front of the campground near the road you will hear multiple dogs barking from the next-door doggie day care.
We never spoke to a camp host, manger or owner at Zion View. Ever. Not since covid have we had such a sterile experience with staff. We booked online. We received an email confirmation. A week before our arrival we received a text with “looking forward to seeing you”. On the day of our arrival, we received a text with the wi-fi password. Upon arrival there was no one in the office.
Summary
When we scheduled our stop in Hurricane, we thought a week would be enough. It was not. There are other parts of Zion and other National Parks we would have liked to visit. And there are many state parks in the area that we did not have time to explore. Not being able to see everything on our list to see is not a common experience for us! At least Hurricane left us wanting more and looking forward to visiting again!
Since beginning our full-time journey to discover the country, we have found something to appreciate in every city and town we have passed through. We hope you enjoy reading about them as much as we have enjoyed discovering them!
Your partners in travel,
Kathryn and Dave
RVing Nomads
It’s a lifestyle
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If you haven’t checked out our Special Places & Recommendations page, please do so. If you are in these areas, you may find these places as enjoyable and rewarding as we did!
| No person, business or attraction has paid us for an endorsement. AI has not been used to create any of the content in this blog or website. All of the photos in this blog and website were taken by Dave or Kathryn Harrington. |