Landscape
Snow Canyon was formed hundreds of millions ago when quartzite sand blew in, creating gigantic sand dunes. Eventually these sand dunes were covered with sediments and cemented into the red and white Navajo Sandstone that makes up much of the park. Water cut through the rock, creating canyons.
Volcanoes were quite common in the area as recently as 10,000 years ago. Lava flowed through the canyons, filling them with basalt and creating new canyons in the park. Look for the extinct volcano cones near the northern end of the park.
The park is located at the intersection of the Mojave Desert which continues to the southwest into California, the Great Basin Desert which continues to the north and west into Nevada, and the Colorado Plateau which continues to the east, stretching to New Mexico and Colorado.
History
Snow Canyon had been inhabited by Ancestral Puebloans for hundreds of years prior to the mid-1800s. It was "discovered" again by mormon pioneers in the 1850s. Like a lot of famous landmarks in the west, Snow Canyon was discovered by ranchers searching for lost cattle. The state park was created in 1959 and named after Lorenzo and Erastus Snow, who were prominent Utah political and religious leaders from the region.