Kanab, UT (4/20/2016)

What a great pleasure to rendezvous with four of my cousins (and two wives) who happened to be vacationing together in Utah.  Once we learned that I was going to be close to where they were staying, a meet-up was inevitable.  Three of the cousins wanted to see some slot canyons, so we did just that.

Our tour started with Red Canyon (also known as Peekaboo), which is near Kanab.  On the way there, we passed Best Friends animal sanctuary, one of the most admired facilities of that type.  (I drove the sandy road to Peekaboo a couple years ago and the video of that drive can be found on YouTube.) The nice thing about this canyon is you drive right to the "front door", no hiking to get there.

Once you enter the canyon, you see the light coming in from above bouncing around on the sandstone walls, creating a variety of colors and highlighting the texture of the stone.

While the floor of the canyon is mostly level, there are a few small boulders to be negotiated.

A log stuck high in the canyon illustrates clearly how high the water has been during a flash flood.

We then drove through Johnson Canyon, where we saw the old Gunsmoke set, which was sad because the long-abandoned buildings are falling apart.  After a long, scenic drive on Skutumpah Rd, we came to one of my favorite slot canyons, Willis Creek.  Our hike started at the small waterfall and continued about a mile downstream before the time demanded we turn back.

Driving on Cottonwood Canyon Rd, we made a quick stop at Grosvenor Arch, a rare triple arch.

Cottonwood Canyon has many colorful formations, but here are just a couple.

It was a really fun day getting to show my cousins some of the reasons I love coming to southern Utah.  I'd be pleased if they enjoyed it half as much as I did.