Lila Off Leash

Our little town of Kanab has some cool spots to explore when you have some spare time. We opted to do these during the week after work to get to know our own backyard. One after work adventure was the Moqui Sand Caves, just 12 miles north of Kanab. These are man-made caves used to harvest sand for glass production in the 1970s. The afternoon sun fills these with light and its only .5 miles from the main road. You just have to scale the rock to get up to reach them so wear grippy shoes. When you touch the walls, sand falls off.  Belly of the Dragon was another spot on our list. This one is about 16 miles north of Kanab on the way to Zion and is super short too. I imagine this is what it feels like to walk down someone's esophagus. The tunnel goes underneath the main road from one side to another and gets really cold and dark. Harlie loved running ahead to explore and it made us feel a little safer with her as our pack leader.  Our last local adventure was Dinosaur Tracks Trail....

When we were in Moab we saw UTVs everywhere and I wished we had booked one so once we got to Kanab I knew I wanted to rent one to explore. We tried booking one for the Coral Pink Sand Dunes but the company that operates in the park was sold out for the rest of 2020. We opted for Kanab Tour Company's UTV tour through the dunes right outside of the Coral Pink SD to Peakaboo Slot Canyon. Turns out, its the same sand.  These off-road vehicles were a blast! I've never been in one before and man are they fun to drive. They hook you up with helmets, goggles, and your own vehicle to follow the guide.  We did a few laps in the dunes, stopped to sandboard, and then made our way to the canyon. My co-pilot drove on the way there and I opted to drive on the way back. Since this was now our 3rd slot canyon, we ohad some fun with the narrow walls. Our guide even showed us this cool photo spot, taking advantage of the natural beams of light into the canyon.  Beam me up Scotty Once we rea...

Turns out Harlie is the best adventure buddy. I mean, I always knew that but now you do too. She doesn't venture too far out of sight, comes when she's called, and knows to stop when she sees other people so I can put the leash back on her. Plus, she is so happy to be included that it makes my heart happy. Most of the national parks aren't dog friendly because they're trying to preserve the natural habitat but I try to bring her on all the other adventures that allow dogs. We took another trip to Mars, a dog friendly one, called the Toadstool Hoodoos right outside of Kanab. This quick 2 mile hike definitely feels like another planet. The ground feels hollow and the toadstools have you looking over your shoulder for signs of aliens. Harlie hopped from toadstool to toadstool, scaled the rocks, and had the zoomies up and down the clay mounds. We tried to blend in as much as possible to avoid an abduction. Another dog friendly adventure was the Buckskin Gulch slot canyon. T...

I chose Kanab as my home base this month because of its proximity to everything I wanted to see: 60-90 minutes in any direction from something cool. One weekend we decided to head south and explore the North Rim of the Grand Canyon because we couldn't miss this while we're in town. Only about 10% of people who visit the Grand Canyon go to the North Rim so naturally, I wanted to be the 10%. I plan on making it to the South Rim at some point, but that will be another trip since its about 5-6 hours from Kanab. The North Rim closes most of its facilities in the middle of October to prep for winter so we knew it was going to be pretty empty, another reason why I wanted to go. Who get's to see the Grand Canyon as a ghost town?! Everything was closed: the visitor center, the bathrooms, the lodge, campgrounds, cabin rentals, so it was a bit eerie but also wicked cool. We planned this trip on a Saturday before our canyoneering excursion in Zion on Sunday so we wanted to take it a bi...

I really felt in my element at Lake Powell. I grew up spending my summers and vacations in Maine at my family's lake house so I truly feel at home on a boat and that's exactly how we explored Lake Powell.  In an attempt to sleep in, we aimed to leave the house at 8am MT to pickup the boat at 9am. We ended up hitting the road around 8:45am and drove a little fast trying to earn back some time. Luckily, Arizona is an hour behind standard Mountain Time because they don't participate in daylight savings so we ended up getting to Wahweap Marina right before it opened. Our skipper for the day, my friend also known as Captain O, checked us in, took the safety course, and got the keys for our 19ft power boat. This whole process took over an hour. We packed the boat, asked the staff if they had any recommendations, and off we went to explore the lake!  It's harder than we expected to explore a lake using a paper map. Luckily, we've learned that we have to download the Googl...

Angel's landing was the reason I booked a house in Utah. I saw pictures of the trail and said to myself, "I have to do that." Two months later, I made it happen! I was torn on making this it's own post or combining it with the rest of my Zion explorations but I think the significance it holds in my heart makes it deserving of its own post.  The trail was closed during the peak of Covid because it requires you to get really close to others as you scale the fin-like mountain and hold on to the same chain as everyone else to get up and down the cliff. I had hopes that it would open at the end of October once things calmed down. We talked to people at Arches who just came from Zion a few days before and said the trail was back open again but the maps didn't show it because they hadn't printed new ones yet. I was thrilled! Manifestation at its finest.  AllTrails rates this one hard for a reason. The switchback ascent up to the plateau is an extremely steep, long, a...

I'm convinced that Dr. Seuss got his inspiration for the cover of Oh! the Places You'll Go from the hoodoos at Bryce. It really feels like you're in his cartoon world when exploring this park because its so distinctly unique and unlike anything you've ever seen. We began our day at the visitor center and took the free shuttle to Sunset Point to begin our hike at the Amphitheater, giving this magnificent overlook of the hoodoos. After getting familiar with the map, we decided to create our own 8 mile loop by connecting the Navajo Loop Trail and the Peekaboo Loop Trail. We veered left at Sunset Point and headed down the canyon switchback style towards Two Bridges, which was a bit underwhelming to be honest so I didn't include a picture. I think I'm starting to get spoiled. This section brought us on a connector path to Peekaboo Loop Trail where we veered left again and started horsing around in the hoodoos.  " Today you are you, that is truer than true. There...