Sugarloaf (Dixie Rock)
Scenic landmarks
A prominent red Navajo sandstone formation above St. George's Pioneer Park, painted with the word "Dixie" and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2023 as a beloved community landmark.
The Landmark
The Sugarloaf — widely known as Dixie Rock — is a massive red Navajo sandstone formation crowning the Red Hills above St. George. It takes its name from its rounded shape, said to resemble an old-fashioned loaf of sugar.
Students of the former Dixie College painted the word "Dixie" on the rock in the early twentieth century, and the whitewashed name has been maintained by successive generations since. That maintenance is the point: the lettering is not a relic but an ongoing act, repainted by people who were not born when it first went up.
National Register listing
In August 2023 the city announced that the Sugarloaf had been added to the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places, recognizing its significance to the area's history and culture.
The listing is unusual in what it recognizes. This is a natural rock formation rather than a building, and what earned the designation is the century of human attachment to it — the painting, the repainting, and the place it holds locally — rather than the geology, which is the same Navajo sandstone found across the whole region.
The view from the top
Short trails and slickrock scrambles lead to the summit.
The scrambling is genuine rather than nominal. There are exposed sections and the sandstone is slick under dust, so it repays proper footwear and rewards keeping children close.
Getting there
The formation has no street address of its own — it sits inside Pioneer Park, which supplies everything practical around it.
Related: climbing on the sandstone around town.
Frequently asked questions
Why is a rock on the National Register?
Because of what people did with it, not what it is made of. The sandstone is the same as the region's other formations; what the listing recognizes is a century of local attachment — the painting, the repainting and the role the formation plays in the city's sense of itself.
Why is it called the Sugarloaf?
Its shape. A sugarloaf was the standard form refined sugar was sold in before granulated sugar — a tall rounded cone — and the formation reads the same way from below. The name predates the paint.
How hard is it to get to the top?
It is a scramble rather than a walk. Short trails lead up over slickrock with genuinely exposed sections, and dust on sandstone is slipperier than it looks. Wear proper shoes and keep children close on the upper part.
What can you see from up there?
Downtown St. George laid out below, White Dome, the country running toward Zion, and on a clear day into Arizona. It is the view that makes sense of how the valley is arranged, and worth doing early in a first visit for that reason.
Why is it called Dixie Rock?
Students from the former Dixie College whitewashed the word onto the sandstone in the early 1900s, and each generation since has repainted it. The name stuck to the rock itself, to the point that far more people know it as Dixie Rock than as the Sugarloaf.
Is the Sugarloaf a historic landmark?
Yes — it joined the National Register of Historic Places in 2023, which is a rare designation for a natural formation rather than a structure.
How do I get to it?
Through Pioneer Park on Red Hills Parkway, which surrounds the formation and has the parking and trailheads. There is no separate address for the rock, so navigate to the park rather than searching for the landmark.
Address
Red Hills ParkwaySt. George, UT