Kanarra Creek Hike - Spring 2008

I moved to Cedar City in December of 2007 to start school at SUU in January. From the time I arrived, I spent most of my spare time learning the area so I would be well prepared for some adventures as soon as the weather cooperated. While searching the web, I found out about a relatively short hike that close and supposedly had some great features. Just east of Kanarraville, Utah, a creek flows from out of the mountains. This creek has carved some impressive slots in the soft sandstone. From the looks of the pictures I viewed online, it looked like a worthwhile adventure. Around Memorial Day, I decided that I really wanted to go do this hike, so I call my brother, Rob, and invited him to come down to do it with me. He was all for it.

We headed out to Kanarraville early on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, it was cold and a little rainy, but we had seen a lot worse, so the ugly weather wasn't going to stop us. We arrived at the parking area and began to gear up. I took a good look around and was amazed by the beauty of the area. I admit, I was a bit nervous because of the rain, and how chilly it was outside, because I knew at some point we were going to be hiking in the water. The trail was straight ahead of us, so we started on our way. Not long after we started, we had to cross the creek for the first time. I had some water shoes on newly bought neoprene socks on, so I didn't think much about stepping into the water. As the water soaked through and touched my skin, I turned to Rob and said, "That is the coldest water I have ever felt in my life!” I didn't know that in a few hours a lot more than my feet would be touching the iciness.

The first half mile or so was a relatively larger valley with an easy trail. We were both in high spirits as we headed up the canyon. The trail followed along side the creek closely. It wasn’t too long before we ran into the first narrow little section of the hike. We both had cameras and stopped for a few minutes to snap some pictures. At this point, we had crossed the creek a couple of times, but only had the water up to our shins. After a couple of minutes of picture taking and screwing around, we packed back up and headed up the trail again. The canyon opened back up slightly, so it wasn't just a slot anymore. We would stop on occasion to take some pictures of the spectacular scenery. About a mile and a half or so into the hike, you finally run into what are known as the Kanarra Creek Narrows. As you turn the last corner before the narrows, a broad wall faces you that is about 75 or 100 feet high with only the little slot where the creek comes out. It really is quite narrow and spectacular. This was a great spot to set up the tripod and get a few pictures from each camera. We had no idea of the wetness that lay ahead.

At the end of this section of narrows is the first of two waterfalls that you have to get up and over to keep going up the creek. This is a fairly well traveled hike, so there are objects in place that help to get over these obstacles without much difficulty. At the first waterfall is a log with some boards nailed across it and a hand line to steady your way up. It was a little bit nerve racking walking up the slippery log, but both of us made it up without incident. It was past the top of this waterfall when we started to get a really wet.

Again, the canyon opens up slightly and we found ourselves traversing the creek again multiple times as the trail went from side to side. Not too far past the first waterfall, we approached the second set of narrows with another waterfall at the end. This set of narrows was a little more intense as we found ourselves wading waist deep in the frigid water. A lot of this water was from snow melt in the mountains, so you can imagine how cold it really was. As we made our way to the base of the second waterfall, there was only a rope ladder this time that was uncomfortably close to the water rushing over the falls. We both got pretty wet going up the ladder and were sufficiently wet by the time we were at the top.

From here there are some areas of spectacular scenery with various smaller waterfalls and sheer cliffs up to 400 feet high. At some point we realized we had probably seen all there was to see and started back. At this time the cold and wet was really starting to take a toll on us physically and mentally. We did a 180 and headed back for the Blazer as quick as we could. There were really no incidences on the way back as we knew what to expect with the exception of going back down the rope ladder we had scaled earlier. I was lucky enough to have the ladder swing under the waterfall which subsequently soaked me from head to toe. I was more irritated than anything.

We eventually made it back to my Blazer and cranked the heat. I think we were both suffering from stage 1 hypothermia at this point, but we both had a blast. It’s a trip I’ll always remember and a fond memory that I share with my brother.