Kanarra Creek

On of my brother Mike's top Southern Utah hikes is Kanarra Creek, a BLM-managed slot canyon 12 miles south of Cedar City outside of Kanarraville. There's a dirt road past Kanarraville and a little hike (half a mile?) to get to the slot canyon. In the slot canyon, there are several waterfalls, one of which stopped us from ascending further, even though there was a rope there. Kevin and I hiked this with my brothers, my sister, and her husband in July 2005, and for such a short hike had many adventures, including a large rattlesnake next to the creek in the lower canyon and a dead battery in my brother's van to greet us when we came back.

This country is gorgeous, and the area is lesser-known so it was fun for my family to go there as a group. I don't typically like getting super wet, but I put up with it for this one, much to the amusement of my brothers. Sorry, this video is on its side.


Here are two videos of the area in the slot canyon that finally stopped us. My brother-in-law got up this rope, but he'd spent half the previous year roofing and had a lot better upper body strength than the rest of us.


One thing that you can't totally see in this clip is how the water comes down from the side, so the rope is practically hanging in part of the waterfall. Also, loud, rushing water can be a bit distracting.


This is the largest clip, but most rewarding. The makeshift log ladder was pretty slippery and wet, so it required some caution. While I'm making my way down, Matt takes in views of the slot canyon.