Red Cliffs National Conservation Area (Red Cliffs NCA) covers over 44,700 acres in southwest Utah's Washington County. It's part of the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve and one of only two national conservation areas in Utah. Formed by the convergence of the Colorado Plateau, the Mojave Desert, and the Great Basin, Red Cliffs NCA contains a wide variety of diverse landscapes, plant life, and animal life.
Red Cliffs NCA has over 130 miles of recreation trails set aside for hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding. And, as with any national conservation area, the use of motorized vehicles in Red Cliffs NCA is highly restricted. Basically, hikers, mountain bikers, and horse riders have the place to themselves.
As luck would have it, many of Red Cliffs NCA's most interesting attractions are in its northeastern section, which is just south of New Harmony. These attractions include Red Cliffs Recreation Area, Red Cliffs Archeological Site, Cottonwood Canyon Wilderness, and Cottonwood Forest Wilderness. (Note that, while Cottonwood Forest Wilderness is not technically part of Red Cliffs NCA, it is adjacent to Cottonwood Canyon Wilderness and close enough that we included in this article.)
