Kanarra Creek Canyon

In July, Jodi and I went down to Cedar City to see a play ("The 39 Steps") at the Shakespearean Festival.  While the play was entertaining, the highlight of the trip turned out to be a hike that we took on the morning of the play.  We decided that we needed something to do while we waited for the play to start later that day.  While looking on the internet, we came across a description of a canyon located about 9 miles south of Cedar City, just east of Kanarraville. It was advertised as a sort of "mini-narrows" type hike.  Kanarra Creek Canyon is a slot canyon with a couple of waterfalls and several other obstacles which can be fairly easily navigated.

Mike and Jodi in one of the narrow sections of the canyon.

So, in the morning, Jodi and I drove the 9 miles from Cedar City to Kanarraville to look for this canyon.  Once in Kanarraville, we stopped to ask one of the friendly locals about the canyon.  He told us that he had lived there all his life, but had never been up the canyon very far.  He mentioned that there are rattlesnakes in the canyon, but that if we were cautious, we would probably be OK.  The man's comments caused us to pause for a moment, but we decided to proceed with caution.  We found the trail-head and started up the canyon.

The first mile or so was a dry, somewhat boring maintenance road.  At the end of the road, the trail drops into the creek where the real interesting part of the canyon begins.

Jodi contemplating the best way to get across the creek.

The trail crosses the creek multiple times; much of the time, the trail is in the creek. There is no way to hike this trail without getting wet.  The temperature that day was over 100 degrees, so the cold water felt good.  As we followed the creek up the canyon, we waded through waist deep pools, climbed over a small waterfall (with the aid of a log ladder and ropes), and passed through a lush area with interesting flora.
 

Mike wading through the creek.

The first waterfall and the log ladder.

Interesting reeds found along the creek.

At one point we slid down a natural water-slide into a waist-deep pool of water.  We gasped as we came up out of the cold water.  It was so much fun, that we back-tracked and rode the water-slide again.

Mike on the natural water-slide

The scenery in the canyon was beautiful.  We both really enjoyed the sound of the running creek, the sights and smells of the canyon and the feel of the cold water on our feet.  Jodi and I had a great time, but we ran out of time before we reached the second waterfall.  We found ourselves wishing that we could stay longer and we promised each other that we would go back again sometime.

Jodi getting a good view of the trail ahead.

 Jodi loved the narrow section of the hike.

Directions:  Going South from Cedar City, take the Kanarraville Exit and follow the road until it gets into town.  Locate 100 North and turn east toward the mountain.  Follow 100 N until it turns into a dirt road.  There is a parking area on the left just before you come to the gate.  Hike past the gate and follow the maintenance road for some distance. The road will cross the creek.  Do not enter the creek at this point.  Continue to follow the maintenance road to its end where it drops into the creek.  The hike is about 4.5 miles round trip.  The creek is the water source for the town of Kanarraville.  As always, be considerate and do not leave any litter behind.

Lake Blanche Hike

On Friday, Alex and I decided to try a little hike that we found in a trails book that we borrowed from the library. The trail begins in Big Cottonwood Canyon at the bottom of the "S" curve and ascends 2,580 feet to Lake Blanche (alt. 8,900 feet) in the Twin Peaks Wilderness Area. The round trip is 5.6 miles. We didn't think the hike would be too difficult, but it turned out to be very tiring. The day was very hot (near 100 degrees F) and the trail was very steep, but the reward at the end of the trail was well worth the effort. Lake Blanche is a high alpine lake that sits in a glacial basin. Sundial peak stands in the background.


After spending a few minutes at Lake Blanche, we decided to continue along the trail for a short distance to the next lake, Lake Florence (Below).


The lakes sit in a basin that was formed by a glacier during the last ice age. As the glacier moved, it dragged boulders across the ground leaving large scratches in the red rock. In the picture below, these scratches can been on the surface of the rock where Alex stands (below).


Alex and I enjoyed the view at the top for a while before heading back down the mountain. We had a limited amount of time that day, because Cassie's all-county track meet was scheduled for that afternoon, and we didn't want to miss it. Because the hike up to the lakes took us longer than we expected, we had to hurry down the mountain. We made it down the trail in about one hour. Alex is a good hiker and he had very little trouble with this fairly strenuous hike. I was proud of him for not wanting to give up when the trail started to get difficult. My legs were pretty sore the next day, but the little adventure was worth it.

Alex, checking out the creek on the way up to Lake Blanche.

Alex and me (Dad) at Lake Florence.

Snowshoe Hike

Front: Nathan Montgomery, Mikey Peterson    Back:  Mike Hutchings, Randy Melara, Braden Chappell, Bishop Scott Eliason

Since the beginning of 2009, I have been serving in the Young Men's organization in our ward.  In February, Bishop Eliason and I took our group of Priests on a snowshoe hike up Big Cottonwood Canyon.  We hiked a trail that began near the Jordan Pines camp site near the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon.

Self portrait in Big Cottonwood Canyon

I had never been snowshoeing before, but I really enjoyed myself.  We walked a couple of miles up the trail, stopped for lunch and then turned around.  On the descent, we had a lot of opportunity to play in the snow and have some fun.

Panoramic view of our group taking lunch

Braden and Nathan demonstrate how to eat Top Ramen straight from the package raw.

Bishop Eliason takes a moment to enjoy the view.

The weather was beautiful that day and the hike was not too strenuous.  The Priests that came with us were Randy Melara, Braden Chappell, Nathan Montgomery and Mikey Peterson.  In the end, everyone had a good time and deemed the hike a success.