Cottonwood Forks is the longer, less-crowded option at Red Cliffs Recreation Area — the trail you take when Red Reef feels too short and you want the same sandstone canyon experience extended into a half-day. From the I-15 exit 22 trailhead you start up the same Quail Creek drainage as Red Reef, but at the divergence you stay with Cottonwood Wash on its longer, deeper run into the Pine Valley Mountain foothills.
How it differs from Red Reef
Red Reef gives you 1.6 miles to a pothole-pool finish. Cottonwood Forks gives you 6+ miles, less water, more solitude, and a route that gets progressively harder to follow as you go upstream. The lower mile or two is well-defined trail. Past that, the route turns into “follow the wash, watch for cairns, expect to wade.” Most parties turn around when they hit the named “Forks” — the confluence of three minor drainages at roughly the 3-mile mark — but you can keep going up any of the three forks on rougher and rougher terrain.
What’s in the canyon
Cottonwood gallery — Fremont cottonwoods that give the wash its name, particularly thick at the lower confluence and along the upper forks where year-round seeps support them. The fall color in late October is the best of any Washington County trail. Cliffs of Navajo sandstone on both sides of the wash, with occasional side canyons that invite exploration. A handful of unsigned petroglyph panels exist in the upper sections; the BLM’s posture is to let people find them and not advertise locations, so you’ll either spot them or you won’t.
Routefinding
The lower section is signed and obvious. The middle section is mostly cairned, with the trail crossing the wash repeatedly and occasionally climbing onto slickrock benches. The upper forks are unsigned wilderness-style routefinding — bring a map, know how to read drainages, expect to backtrack at least once. Cell service is spotty to nonexistent. This is the longest trail in the recreation area and the one most likely to involve actual navigation.
The tortoise rules apply, doubled
You’re deep in the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, which exists for desert tortoise habitat protection. Dogs leashed, on-trail only (or in-wash when there’s no defined trail), no collecting, no camping. The further upstream you go, the more important these rules are — the upper canyons see less foot traffic and more tortoise activity, particularly in spring and fall mornings.
Heat and water
Cottonwood Forks has more shade than most Washington County trails because the canyon walls are tall enough to block sun for much of the morning, and the cottonwoods provide spotty shade along the bottom. That said, it’s still a desert hike. Spring water is intermittent — the wash runs in spring, dries in summer, can be flowing again after monsoon storms. Bring more water than you think; the round-trip mileage punishes anyone who runs short on the way back.
Flash flood note
The upper drainage above the trailhead is large enough to deliver real flash flood pulses during summer monsoon storms. The narrow sections of the lower trail funnel that water. Check the National Weather Service forecast for the entire upper Pine Valley basin before going in summer, not just the local St. George forecast — storms thirty miles north can flood you here.
Where it fits
Cottonwood Forks is the half-day option at Red Cliffs. Owens Loop is the family walk; Red Reef is the half-mile splash; Cottonwood Forks is what you do when you want a full morning of canyon walking with the option to extend further. It’s the trail that connects Red Cliffs Recreation Area to its larger surrounding NCA — the rest of the federal land north of St. George — and gives you a sense of how much desert is back there before the Pine Valley massif takes over.