Kanab – the rest of the story.

You already got to see the highlight of our stay, so the remainder of our week in Kanab may be a bit anticlimactic. As I mentioned we had rain, accompanied by thunder and lighting on both Sunday and Monday. It seems to be a fairly typical weather pattern here - wake up to clear blue cloudless skies, watch the clouds start to form midmorning and then turn from puffy white to towering gray thunderheads by late afternoon. Boom. Crash. Then rinse and repeat the following day.

That is one serious storm coming our way!

Monday, 4/29, we visited Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, which is situated in Angel Canyon just 5 miles outside of Kanab. Best Friends is the largest and most diverse no-kill animal shelter in the world. They house about 1600 animals on any given day. The Sanctuary is immense – 3,700 acres run by 400 employees and a huge number of volunteers. There are areas designated for cats (41% of the population), dogs (24%), rabbits (7%), parrots (8%), horses (3%), pigs (2%), and barn animals (1%). They also have a wild animal rehabilitation center that accounts for the remaining 14% of the animals in their care. The animals are housed in small groups with indoor/outdoor access. In case you’re wondering, Riley’s is a living space for horses in recovery. It’s named after a Best Friends horse who had a prosthetic leg and happily lived her life at the sanctuary.  

A map of the Sanctuary (compliments of Best Friends website).

We signed up for the 2-hour overview tour, but they have more in-depth tours for each of the sections. Best Friends also has a small RV park (mostly for volunteers), a large pet cemetery, a café, gift shop and beautiful walking trails.  Unfortunately, it was raining steadily the whole time we visited so I didn’t take many pictures, but I did spend a considerable amount of time in the gift shop. Lol.

He looks like our Ozzie!! The kitty areas have lots of cubbies and places to climb.

As I mentioned we started each morning at the BLM office in hopes of scoring a permit to Coyote Buttes North and the Wave. But, no love. For Riley, we found the Sherry Bell trail on the Jackson Flats Reservoir just a few miles from our RV park. You know how much he loves getting his feet wet on a hot day.

Lovely paved trail around the reservoir.

As much time as Riley spends in the water,
he should have flippers instead of feet!

In addition to laundry and chores, I also spent time catching up on the blog. The RV park had halfway decent wifi – what a treat! Thanks to Riley barfing on the couch cover, I actually got to hit the laundromat twice. We had a nice dinner out at the Flying V café. Kanab is one of those up and coming towns that relies a lot on the tourist trade so there are several excellent restaurants. But it still has a small-town vibe; it’s how I image Sedona was 20 years ago. 

Rog had the pork chop, while I went for the Bison braised short ribs. Excellent!!

Friday, 5/3, was our last day in Kanab and we did a hike with Riley to Lick Wash. After Coyote Buttes South it was a bit of a letdown, it was only moderately stunning. Lol. To be fair, just about anything after Coyote Buttes South would have been a bit of a letdown.  The hike was pretty, and the recent rains had left pockets of water and LOTS of mud for Riley to play in.

Who's child is this??

High cliffs frame the wash.

Columns developing in the canyon walls.

Sandstone fins, a stone bird's nest and mud drying into leather patches. 

We loved the narrow, shady sections.

This wide!

New leaves on the maples were brilliant green.

There's a little color and swirl! :) 

On the way in, we explored a narrow side canyon and found a small remnant of snow. Riley went wild! The top was sandy, so he dug down and nommed a snow cone, then he rolled around making puppy snow angels, and then finally did crazy dog. On the way back he made a bee-line for the same side canyon and did it all again.

Snow cones, snow angels and crazy dog!

Saturday, 5/4, we moved on. We really liked Kanab and there are several areas we didn’t get a chance to explore, and of course there is always the lure of the lottery! 😊 

Our next stop was two nights at Sand Hollow State Park near St. George, UT. The campground was full, but they have a huge dispersed camping area on the far side of the reservoir.

Even arriving on a Saturday afternoon, we found a nice spot fairly close to the water. The area was pretty, but we weren’t overly impressed with the state park, they charged $25 a night for dry camping and the place needed some attention. The dumpsters for the dispersed area were over a mile from where we were camped so there was trash all around. If you have a jetboat or an ATV, this is your place. If you want peace and quiet, not so much. On the upside, it is on the water and we were close to St. George where we hit the Costco for diesel and groceries.

Sand Hollow primitive camping area. 

Our next destination is one we’ve been trying to hit for several years – Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. Every time we tried before, the temps were in the 90’s or 100’s. This year we timed our visit for a cold front so we’re expecting a few balmy days in the 70’s and 80’s. The campground doesn’t take reservations, so fingers crossed we get a spot.