Saturday, October 5, 2024
Small Town Vibe
Population 3000-4999

Kanab, UT: 5 Reasons we Loved our stay while visiting Zion and Bryce Canyon

Small Town Vibe

March 2024: The next stop on our Spring Break road trip was in the small town of Kanab, UT (pop.4683*). We used it as a home base for exploring Zion and Bryce National Parks – and found it to be a far more interesting place than anticipated! Keep reading to learn why we enjoyed our visit to Kanab and would recommend to others as an ideal hub for visiting the area sites!

Knab is located on Kanab Creek just north of the Arizona state line, and is the county seat of Kane County Utah.

Kanab – A Brief History

Kane County is rich in history ranging from pre-historic dinosaurs, native peoples in the region, early explorers and settlers, western movie history, and modern day pioneers.

Native Americans have lived in this region for thousands of years and populations of the native people have come and gone.

Spanish Explorers: Silvestre ‘lez de Escalante was a Franciscan missionary who ventured into this region with his group of explorers in 1776.

Mormon Pioneers: The next main group of explorers to this region arrived in the 1850’s and 60’s. The community of Kanab was first settled in 1864 but Indian attacks forced early explorers to abandon the area in just two years. Kanab means “place of the willows” in the Paiute Native American language, The area was re-established by Mormon pioneers in 1870.

Hollywood Era: During the 1940’s and 1950’s Hollywood fell in love with the authentic Old West flavor of Kanab region. More than 100 movies and TV shows have been filmed in this region. Movie buffs visiting Kanab can experience Little Hollywood Movie Museum on West Center Street in Kanab, as well as the nearby Paria, Johnson Canyon, and Kanab Canyon movie sets. See a full list of movies.

National Park tourism Era: Kanab is surrounded geological natural beauty and consistently good weather, ensuring that it has grown as a popular place to visit. First it is conveniently located in the middle of 3 National Parks – Zion, Bryce Canyon, and Grand Canyon-North Rim. The area is also home to 5 National Monuments. Kane County is home to 2 of the 43 Utah State Parks.  Within these many areas, several geological features are called out specifically, including Paria ghost town and cemetery, White Pocket, The Wave (star attraction of the Vermilion Cliffs), The Belly of the Dragon (a naturally carved tunnel), Sand Caves, Slot Canyons, Toad Stools, Buckskin Gultch hiking, Peek-a-Boo hiking, and Coral Pink Sand Dunes.

Animal Resue Sanctuary: Since 1993, Kanab has been the home base of the Best Friends Animal Society (BFAS), an American nonprofit animal welfare organization with satellite offices around the US. Its mission is to promote pet adoption, no-kill animal rescue, and spay-and-neuter practices.  The sanctuary is on 3,700 acres with an additional 33,000 acres leased from the United States Bureau of Land Management near Zion National Park, the Grand Canyon’s North Rim, Bryce Canyon National Park, and Lake Powell. The sanctuary is home to around 1,500 homeless animals.

5 Reasons that Kanab made the perfect home base while visiting Bryce and Canyon National Parks

1. Best Friends Society, largest Animal Sanctuary in the US, is headquartered here!

We stayed in a new motel run by the Best Friends Society – and learned all about the great work they do to provide care and adoption for abandoned domesticated animals. The motel rooms are large, well organized and have an appealing aesthetic. Our stay came with a vegan breakfast (not fancy, but good enough) in their cheery pet-themed Mercantile store. Learn more about who they are and how they started HERE.

2.Fantastic local Restaurants! So many walkable options!

We arrived in Kanab in early evening. After checking into the motel, out next goal was food that we could walk to. Via Google maps, we decided to pick the Rocking V Cafe. Great choice! It was bustling, bright and cheery. The food we ordered was fantastic!

Below is a sampling of the local (4+ star reviews!) restaurants within an easy walk of the motel we stayed at in the main business district. After a busy day of hiking in the regional parks, it was so great to come back to a home base with so many good food options!

3.Learn about old Hollywood Westerns and early Mormon Pioneers through Museums and Local Art!

We spent an afternoon walking around the town and enjoyed the many public displays of art that help tell the story of the town. One of our favorite stops was the Heritage House museum, which is located in a beautiful old Victorian home that typifies the early Morman settler experience. We also enjoyed the yard display at the home next door, which we suspect also tells the story of early pioneer travels.

We didn’t take the time to visit Little Hollywood museum, but did enjoy the various markers around the town talking about famous Westerns filmed nearby and their actors who spent time in the area.

  • Morman Trail mural
  • The Heritage House – early Morman family home
  • Family photo
  • Brown family home…
  • … with interesting story-telling yard art!
  • Little Hollywood!
  • The Kanab Chapel history…
  • … now a Family History Center
  • LDS Church
  • Kanab Library
  • Kanab Historical Society

4. Easy access to both Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks

Kanab turned out to be the perfect home base for our visits to Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park. We had hoped to beat the crowds by traveling in March. Bryce Canyon still had snow, which probably did keep some early visitors away. The orange hoodoo features were so beautiful with their light snow frosting! Zion National Park was very busy, but we were still able to find a parking place and a spot on the bus that took us to an upper spot in the valley so that we could hike back. Tip: we visited both parks after 3pm to avoid the biggest crowds. This strategy worked well for us!

After a long hike in Zion in the late afternoon and early evening, we were happy to find the Zion Canyon Brew Pub on the southern edge of the park, near the Visitor Center. Good food, drink and views!

  • Kanab is centrally located to National Parks
  • Zion National Park
  • Zion National Park
  • Zion Brewery
  • Zion Brewery – a fun way to refuel after hiking in Zion
  • Waiting for a bus in Zion National Park
  • Bryce Canyon
  • Bryce Canyon
  • Bryce Canyon

5. Amazing Natural Beauty in the area! Ther are MANY parks and monuments – our choice was a slot canyon called Peekaboo!

Our focus was on National Parks. However, it turns out that the area has SO MANY amazing geoligical features available to visit. I’ve listed most of the best known parks below. Many need reservations and The Wave even requires a lottery system. The photos of any of these sights indicate they are worth a visit.

We took a tour of the Peekaboo Slot Canyon just north of Kanab. i had never heard of a slot canyon, but learned that it is a canyon carved in sandstone by water, leaving a “slot” that is at least 10x taller than it is wide. We found that sunlight bounces off the red walls in almost magical ways. This particular slot canyon entrance is located a 3 mile drive through 6-12″ of sand, so I would personally (highly!) recommend that you hire someone to drive it for you!

More to Explore!

The city of Kanab and the County of Kane have a robust Tourism Program – check out their information to plan a visit!

Economic vitality in any place requires significant effort an attention. Below are a couple of the teams working in Kanab to keep the town economically strong.

Map of Kanab

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