The city of Kanab, Utah is southeast of Cedar City along the border between Utah and Arizona. Located in red rock country, it is a popular vacation destination which has also been the scene of numerous western-themed movies. With a population of only around 5,000, it offers some nice accommodations for visitors in terms of lodging and dining, and it is located in an area of significant geological beauty. Dave and Jan chose to do some exploration in the Kanab area the first week of June – setting up at a Bureau of Land Management campground called Ponderosa Grove Campground around 15 miles northwest of Kanab.

After a visit to the Visitors’ Center in Kanab, they headed east of town on the highway, then north for around 10-12 miles in search of a “slot canyon” known as Paria Box. What they discovered was the entrance to Paria Canyon which takes those who hike it for fifty miles upstream in a narrow canyon which has no exits along the route! Because the Paria River was filling even the canyon entrance, Dave and Jan only got close enough to take some pictures – enjoying some of the picturesque geology and some of the spring flowers in the process.

Canyon Entrance

Driving back toward Kanab, Dave and Jan enjoyed stopping for a short hike at the Toadstools Trailhead, one of many interesting locations which are a part of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.

Ponderosa Pines Campground is only a few miles east of Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park – a park which includes large dunes of colorful sand which visitors can climb or glide down on sand boards something like the boards used in skiing. What Dave and Jan didn’t realize when they checked into the camp ground was the fact that they were just across the highway from the coral pink sands of the Moquith Mountain Wilderness Study Area with coral pink sands in smaller dunes, featuring a variety of plant species and some natural beauty of its own – including views of the rocky bluffs just north of Kanab.

There is much more beauty to explore and experience in the Kanab area, but Dave and Jan were happy for their introduction to another example of the Lord’s amazing creativity in the world He made. As the psalmist challenged, in Psalm 148:5, “Let them [us] praise the name of the LORD, For He commanded and they were created.”