SOUTHWEST UTAH
Kanarra Creek Canyon is a fun and beautifully photogenic slot canyon in southwest Utah, just outside of Zion National Park, near St. George. It's a short easy water hike up the canyon to a couple small waterfalls and lovely scenery.
I suggest a couple steps before hiking the canyon:
Step One - purchase a ticket
The park limits access to just 150 visitors per day, so you need to obtain a permit at kanarrafalls.com. It's quite easy - just find a day with tickets available and purchase for $12 online. The park lies on private land owned by the Utah School Trust Lands and they receive 10% of the funds. The remainder pays for staff and maintenance for the park.
Step Two - buy or rent neoprene socks and water hiking boots
Most of the people I saw on the trail wore basic water shoes or rainboots, but I *hate* being cold, so I rented neoprene socks and water hiking boots from Adventure Plus in St. George. The owner is a local and was super flexible about pick-up date and time without charging extra days and I was so glad to not be cold. You don't need specialized gear, but if you want it, this was the only place I could find that rents and they were great.
Step Three - enjoy!
The scenery along the entire hike is beautiful, with a few rock scrambles and stream crossings.
I threw this short video together to show some of the pics and action shots from the hike.
About halfway into the hike, you enter the slot canyons and it's all water hiking from here on out. Unlike The Narrows, this hike is just ankle deep most of the way, reaching your calves only once.
As you hike along the slot canyon, you can hear the roar of a waterfall that gets louder and louder until you turn a corner and see this iconic view.
Although it looks intimidating, it is super easy to climb. The rungs on the ladder are U-shape metal beams secured to a log, so it is good and sturdy.
From here, you hike further up-canyon until you reach the second waterfall. This is where the trail officially ends, although it looks like others before me disputed that arbitrary fact.
I have to admit, seeing that jumbled mess of a make-shift ladder made me want to go further, but it would have been quite difficult. I walked up to it, standing on just this side of the "ladder" and definitely caught a lot of spray from the waterfall. It was just 60 degrees that day and I had no desire to walk the 2.5 miles back to the car in cold, wet clothes. But this would be super fun to attempt on a nice hot day!
Total miles = 5.03
Total elevation gain = 669'