Our Spring Trip to Southwestern Utah
As our friends from Minnesota would attest, the winter of 2021/2022 has been long. Too long. So, to celebrate our 60th birthdays in June, sister-in-law Liz and I planned a trip (with spouses) to southwestern Utah to (a) escape to some warmer weather and (b) enjoy some hiking and good food. Both couples were interested in seeing multiple national parks in the area, including Zion, Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon. So, I set off to find suitable accommodations. After looking at several options, we selected a VRBO property. The property, hosted by Connie, was perfect for our get-away. It was spacious, centrally located, and well appointed. Communication with Connie was easy, and she was always very responsive. I highly recommend this property.
Located in Kanab, the villa was no more than an hour or so away from the parks that we wanted to visit. Further, much to our surprise, the activities available around Kanab kept us busy for many, many days. Instead of providing a day-by-day summary, I’ll instead provide a categorical summary with a photo gallery.
The Location
As mentioned above, Kanab is a great location if you’re looking to visit multiple national parks and monuments, especially Zion, Bryce Canyon, Grand Staircase Escalante and the Grand Canyon. There are also some great state parks nearby, especially Coral Sand Dunes State Park (just a few miles from Kanab) and Snow Canyon State Park (near St. George, slightly over 1 hour from Kanab). Plus, there are multiple activities around Kanab that, honestly, challenge the parks in terms of accessibility and satisfaction, especially when you factor in the number of people currently visiting the national parks. Here’s a summary of the parks we visited.
- Zion National Park – Zion is only about 40 minutes to the northwest of Kanab. The merits of Zion are obvious. As the park experiencing the greatest number of visitors per year (over 4 million), the park is without question spectacular. We visited the park on a Tuesday in late April and experienced no significant issues. While we had to park at a $30 parking lot in Springdale (a small town just south of the west park entrance) because the visitor center lot was full, it’s easy to get to the park to ride the jump-on/jump-off shuttle through the canyon. Because it was a weekday, the crowds were not bad and we were able to stop at every overlook and shuttle stop we desired. In contrast, when we drove through the park the following Saturday on our way to Snow Canyon State Park, nearly every overlook was full and the line to enter the park was much longer than earlier in the week. As an additional aside, because the parks in the area are managed by different federal agencies, I recommend buying an annual ”Interagency Pass” for $80 ($20 if you’re age 62 or older).
- Bryce Canyon National Park – Bryce Canyon is only about 75 minutes to the northeast from Kanab. Again, Bryce’s status as a park worth visiting is unquestioned due to the beautiful vistas it provides and the geological features it offers. The visitor center is worth a visit because of the explanation of the geological history of the hoodoos within the park as well as of the origin and meaning of the ”staircase” reference in the phrase “Grand Staircase-Escalante” which, believe it or not, includes the Grand Canyon. The guidebooks often suggest driving directly to the end of the out-and-back road and stopping at the various overlooks only on your way back. I think this is wise for a couple of reasons. First, the overlooks are on the east side of the road. By waiting to pull over on the way back, you’ll never cross traffic and will have an easier time getting back onto the roadway. Second, it allows you to end at the Bryce Canyon Ampitheater, clearly the most stunning vista within the park. The hikes within the park, including the Bristlecone Loop Trail at Rainbow Point and the Wall Street Trail at Sunset Point, are well worth the effort. I think I may have to come back for the 22.9-mile Under-the-Rim trail which provides access to portions of the park located below the rim of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. The trail runs from Rainbow Point to Bryce Point and varies in elevation from 6,980 to 8,334 feet.
- Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument – Grand Staircase-Escalante (GSE) is managed by the Bureau of Land Management, not the National Park Service (hence the earlier interagency pass suggestion).
- Red Canyon – The Red Canyon is found northwest of Bryce Canyon within the Dixie National Forest. The visitor center and trails are managed by the US Forest Service. The area has been called the “most photographed place in Utah,” which makes sense given its location and its brilliant red soil contrasted with the green pines.
- Snow Canyon State Park – I cannot say enough about this park as it was one of my favorite destinations. While smaller than the surrounding national parks, Snow Canyon features some of the same geological features and houses some animals rarely found in other parks (i.e., the desert tortoise and the Snow Canyon Gila Monster). In terms of geological features, here you’ll find petrified sand dunes, sandstone cliffs and lava! The lava was deposited here 1.4 million years ago when nearby cinder cones erupted. There are even two lava tubes you can explore (but bring your flashlight)!
- Coral Sand Dunes State Park – Similarly, this state park was a surprise located only a few miles from our villa. The park includes huge sand dunes popular with all-terrain vehicle enthusiasts as well as sandboarders. While difficult to walk in the sand the 1/2 mile to the top of the largest dune, it was well worth it to be able to take in the view of the surrounding area (and to watch the sandboarders).
- Grand Canyon National Park – Among the four of us, I alone had previously visited the Grand Canyon. It was great fun to watch the others experience the park for the first time! Unfortunately, the North Entrance is closed until May 16. As a result, we had to come up with a way to visit the park’s east and south entrance. We decided to make the journey on the day we left Kanab for Las Vegas, the last stop on our trip. The Grand Canyon was, of course, beautiful and awe-inspiring. We arrived at the canyon at about 11 a.m., and already the crowds were building. While we were able to park with no problem at most stops, we did have a little trouble at Grandview Point, one of the smaller overlooks and the trailhead for the Grandview Trail. With a little patience and some driving in circles, we were able to stop at this beautiful overlook.
In addition to the parks mentioned above, we found several local activities, typically managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
- Tom’s Canyon is a 3-mile roundtrip trail located a short walk from the villa in which we stayed. This served as our go-to trail when we wanted to go out and walk around during the morning or evening.
- Bunting Trail is a 4-mile roundtrip trail located just a few miles south of Kanab. The trail climbs from the valley floor to the top of Bunting Point, 860 feet above. A spur off the trail also includes dinosaur tracks preserved in sandstone (seriously)!
- K-Hill Trail is a 5-mile roundtrip trail that begins at the same trailhead as Tom’s Canyon, but then goes south toward the visitor center located on Hwy 89 South.
- Greenhalgh Trail is located just north of Kanab and is a 3+ mile hike that follows an old stock trail once used to carry mail across the Coral Pink Sand Dunes from towns to the west. It’s a fairly easy hike with some great views.
- Peek-a-Boo Canyon was one of the greatest surprises we found. From the BLM website: ”Peek-A-Boo, also commonly known as Red Canyon, is an easy, short hike (0.7 miles round trip) into one of the most beautiful slot canyons in the area. The stunning orange, sandstone walls make an amazing backdrop for photographs. In the canyon, you will find ancient Moqui Steps climbing the canyon wall as well as logs balanced between the canyon walls above you.” The canyon is difficult to get to due to the deep sand road you must follow to get to the trailhead. Although tempted to try to get to the canyon in our rented Toyota 4Runner, wiser heads prevailed as our wives preferred to access the canyon through the tour operator we hired, Coral Cliffs Tours (CCT).
- We also hired CCT to take us to Cutler Point (also known as the Grand Chamber) and to the Inchworm Arch. Our three-stop tour, known as he Best of Kanab, took us across terrain that would have been challenging, if not impossible, for a standard vehicle. Cutler Point consists of a huge sand dune within a cove in the White Cliffs level of The Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. While a challenging walk due to the sand, it was well worth the effort and produced some wonderful pictures. Because we were unable to get to Arches National Park, it was great to see the Inchworm so we at least saw a few arches while visiting the area.
- Lastly, we embarked on a journey up the Cottonwood Canyon Road. Located approximately 49 miles east of Kanab on Hwy 89 South, this 40-mile long gravel road consists of several sites worth visiting (see below). We stopped and hiked around at The Box, the Cottonwood Narrows slot canyon, Grosvenor Arch, and Kodachrome Basin State Park. While not required, a 4-wheel drive vehicle made this portion of our trip much more comfortable than it would have been in a standard rental car or SUV.
The Food
Once we got settled in Kanab, it was time to journey out and find the good restaurants. We started at Houston’s Trails End which features some standard American meals. What’s not on the menu, but set Houston’s apart, was its Coconut Cream Pie! Absolutely delicious. We also ate at Escobar’s Mexican restaurant. Escobar’s, celebrating its 25th year in business, is very popular and very busy. Under the guiding hand of Rosa (the owner along with her husband Leo), this charming place provided authentic Mexican food and great service. We also ate vegan pizza at the Peekaboo Canyon Wood Fired Kitchen. My Hot Mess pizza was one of the most attractive and best tasting pizzas I have ever enjoyed. The colors and flavors were a pleasant surprise! We twice enjoyed eating at the Rocking V Cafe. Between the four of us, we tried many, many menu items. None were disappointing. The almond bread pudding dessert stood out as one of the best desserts we enjoyed our entire trip (and was referenced several times during our trip as the standard for other desserts to beat). We also ate at the Wild Thyme Cafe, which touts its organic, on-site garden. The Tropical Piggy bowl was particularly delicious. There were, of course, a few restaurants at which we ate that did not stand out. None were bad, but I have chosen to not list them here.
Finally, while all of the restaurants noted above were very good, there was only one restaurant that stood out as a ”dining experience” (as exclaimed by Dave). It was Vermillion 45, a French/Italian bistro located in the middle of this town of roughly 4,600 people. The unassuming exterior of this restaurant does nothing to give you a heads-up of what you’ll find inside. Chef Cesidio d’Andrea, classically trained at the French culinary academy, Chateau des Coudraies, leads the pair of French chefs offering slow-cooked, home-style French, Belgian and Italian dishes as well as nouvelle cuisine, fresh seafood and steaks in a casual bistro setting. All of our meals were spectacular, including my Brochette de Canard, featuring Long Island Duck sourced from Indiana. In addition, their Creme Brulee was served the proper way (a detail to which my spouse is very attuned). As our server said, ”if [the French chefs] don’t know how to properly prepare Creme Brulee, we’ll send them back to France.”
Las Vegas
We ended our trip by staying at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. My spouse had never been to Vegas, so we thought it an opportune time to visit Sin City. For the most part, we walked around and toured the mind-bogglingly large resorts. We also toured Fremont Street to see the older, downtown casinos and to people-watch. We also had some good meals, visited a relative living in the area, and restrained ourselves in terms of gambling. On our last night, we went to the “Limitless” show featuring Shin Lim and Colin Cloud, a magician and “The Real Life Sherlock Holmes,” respectively. The show was very enjoyable and provided a capstone event for our trip.
The Photo Gallery
In Closing
According to my Apple Watch, we easily walked 15,000 steps or more on most days of our journey. One day I walked nearly 29,000 steps! The trip was a wonderful way to celebrate turning 60 in June, to spend time with family, and to reacquaint myself with an area I haven’t visited for decades. Plus, these two weeks have reignited my interest in domestic travel, particularly when walking/hiking is part of the plan! In addition, it was great to come back to Minnesota AFTER the snow had melted and the ice had left the lake. Thank goodness it’s spring because I now need to work off the weight I’ve gained from the long winter and the many desserts enjoyed while on our Sandstone Adventures! Thank you for taking the time to read this blog entry.
Next up: A Return to Sweden!