The Hurricane Cliffs form the western backdrop to the town, a sheer escarpment of red sandstone rising roughly 600 metres above the valley floor. They were created by the Hurricane Fault, a normal fault running more than 250 kilometres through southwestern Utah — one of the longest of its type in the American West. The fault dropped the land to the west while the eastern block held, producing a cliff face that is geologically significant and visually hard to ignore.
At sunset the sandstone turns a deep orange-red that is worth timing deliberately. Hiking trails run along the base of the cliffs and on the mesa above; some are accessible directly from town and some require a short drive west. The cliffs are also visible from most of Hurricane, so even if you don't make it out to walk them, they serve as a constant reminder that you are in serious geological country.