Why Kanab?

Kanab is a small town in the very south of Utah, minutes from Arizona. It’s situated in a beautiful location, surrounded by red cliffs, and the nearby scenery is featured in more than 100 movies and television shows. Kanab is also home to Best Friends Animal Society, the nation’s largest sanctuary for homeless animals.

For us, Kanab is an easy five hours drive straight south from Salt Lake City: two hours on highway followed by three hours on smaller, scenic roads. It’s warmer, has less snow, and more sunny days (256 vs 222).

We love to go hiking in the red rocks, and there are a lot of local hikes, some starting directly from town; more on those in a later post. Kanab is also an ideal base camp for visiting National Parks — stay for a week and take day trips to Zion, Bryce, and the Grand Canyon, interspersed with local sights. Kanab is centrally located to give you access to a number of parks.

Zion National Park

The east entrance of Zion is only 37 minutes away.

Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park is 85 minutes north.

Grand Canyon National Park (North Rim)

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon is 90 minutes away. No less scenic than the South Rim, but much less crowded. Note that it’s closed during the winter, being at an elevation of over 8,000 feet, and opens in the middle of May.

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

Grand Staircase-Escalante is huge, with lots of places to access it. For example, the trailhead to the Toadstools is 44 minutes away, and the trail to the Nautilus is also near there.

And Much More

These photos (all mine) give you a taste of what’s around Kanab, but there’s so much more. For example, Horseshoe Bend is 76 minutes away.

On the way there, you can find the trail to Skylight Arch.

Marble Canyon in Vermillion Cliffs National Monument and Navajo Bridge are within reach.

And the Wire Pass trailhead to Buckskin Gulch is about an hour away.

So why Kanab, indeed? I hope these pictures answer that question. Kanab may be in the middle of nowhere, but it’s a beautiful nowhere.