Falling for Kanarra Falls

Our next stop in southern Utah was the tiny town of Kanarraville.  When we define tiny, we usually use population numbers or numbers of stop lights.  Kanarraville doesn't have a stop light, grocery store, or even a gas station.  Its post office is housed with the regional fire station, and the only church in town is for Latter Day Saints.  But it does have an RV park and a very adventurous hike to Kanarra Falls.

The camp host suggested the hike as the only entertainment in town.  You can hike directly from the RV Park, rather than paying the $10 parking fee at the lot on the hill that seems to be the main source of income for the town of Kanarraville.  The only instructions we got were to turn east on one of the only streets in town, and walk 2.6 miles down that road to the falls.  There were a few things to entertain us on the hike to the falls.  We entered into a canyon with tall red walls that formed little alcoves in the shade.

There were a few trees that had fallen, but the canyon was so narrow that they were hung up at an angle that made for easy climbing.  Mark could just walk up this tree trunk.















There was some entertainment of the reptilian kind that Denisa is not so fond of.  When she is hiking in the lead and she finds a snake on the trail, she does what we now call "the snake dance."  It involves a lot of  frantic foot work that confuses the snake in his efforts to get away.  So far, her only encounters have been with non-venomous reptiles, and this dance allows Mark to get a good look at the  confused snake.  This guy slithered up the little gambel oak beside the trail and posed for us.

We came to the first creek crossing, a little confused why the camp host hadn't mentioned water over the trail.  We carefully crossed the creek, successfully keeping our shoes dry.  When we came to another creek crossing, and another, and another . . . we wondered how this part of the brief trail description got left out.  Denisa got her shoes wet pretty early in the hike, but Mark's great balance led him over all 24 crossings with dry shoes.  Of course he was motivated to stay dry since his leather hiking boots don't like the water as much as Denisa's tennis shoe hikers.

After a couple miles we came to the very narrow mouth of the canyon to find the only way onward was straight through the creek.

It was obvious that Mark's hiking boots were going to get very wet as we slogged straight through the water now.  It was a little ominous walking into a slot canyon this narrow.  It was less than a week ago that seven people died while in keyhole slot canyon in Zion national park in the middle of a rain storm that caused a flash flood.  But our skies were perfectly blue with no chance of rain, so it was a great day for this hike.

The only thing accurate about the trail description we got was that the first falls really were about two and a half miles from the start of our hike.  There was also an old ladder beside the falls that we could climb to continue up the canyon.

At certain points, the walls widened for a different view of the canyon and we could get our feet out of the water.

There were also a few places to scramble up on a fallen boulder for a better view of the top of the canyon walls that were turning interesting colors in the waning light.

But then we would get to another section where the colorful canyon walls closed in, and the only option was to walk in the very cold water.  That cold water got well over Denisa's knees in places, so she had to roll up her capri pant legs to keep them from getting wetter.  We really didn't dress appropriately for this hike today!

The ladder for the second waterfall was rickety and wooden.  Mark tested it first, but we assumed it would hold since we saw some people on this trail that had already come down the ladder.  We were surprised at the trail traffic since it was a week-day afternoon after Labor Day.

We had heard that this trail can get quite crowded on the weekends.  We saw about a dozen groups today spread over the two miles, so it was easy to take plenty of pictures inside those picturesque canyon walls all by ourselves.  On our walk back through the canyon it was later in the day, and the lighting had changed.  So of course, we had to take more pictures.

Sometimes Denisa even took possession of the camera and managed to get a picture of Mark in the slot canyon.

The sun was starting to set as we made our way back home.  It was a faster hike back since we no longer had to be careful over those 24 creek crossings to keep our shoes dry.  Our toes were numb from being in that cold water for so long, but we would both agree that we had wandered into another of God's wonders.

P.S.  We found that Mark's leather hiking boots dried out quite nicely by the next morning, and were ready for another beautiful Utah hike!