Return to Kanarraville Falls

The kids had a dentist appointment in Cedar City, which meant that I had to take the day off work and they got out of school for the day. With beautiful weather and 0% chance of rain, I thought it might be a good time to go back to Kanarraville Falls, a lovely slot canyon hike south of Cedar City. I asked the kids, and after thinking about it a little, they agreed. Last year we did this hike and all had cold feet, so this year we had neoprene socks. I also packed some extra layers in case they got cold.

Then we set off down the trail. We quickly got hot and were looking forward to the cold water in the creek.

In fact, the kids couldn't resist going down the water slide.

We continued on, finding more small waterfalls and having fun climbing over obstacles.

It didn't take too long until the creek turned and we entered the high canyon walls.

We reached the first waterfall. Some other people were climbing up the ladder next to it. Desert Boy said, "Can we go into the cave?"

"What cave?" I asked.

"The one behind the waterfall."

I shrugged. I didn't know there was one. "Sure."

The kids scampered behind the water.

Sure enough, there was a little alcove. And they were so proud  of themselves for finding it.

We climbed up and continued to another little waterfall. Guess where Desert Boy wanted to go!

A bit further on are more waterfalls that seem like they would be super fun with full sun. I convinced Desert Boy to slide down one.

Can you see his blur?

It was fun, but it was also cold, and we weren't finding much sun in the canyon now. So out came the jackets, balaclavas, and gloves. The kids started finding the drier passages through the creek.

We took a group shot before the second ladder, which has deteriorated a lot. We decided this was a good place to turn around, especially since the kids were so cold.

I did get in a few more photos.

At the top of the first ladder I saw the crazy amount of bolts everywhere. It was seriously out of control. Right above the drop I saw a yellow rope. I went and took a closer look and saw that it was the cheap rope you buy at the store that might hold 200 pounds. Except someone had girth-hitched it to each of the hangars. Girth hitching is one of the ways to reduce your strength the fastest, by \about half! Plus there were knots in the lower part of the rope as hand holds and the rope was seriously frayed. It very well could have broken with just 50 pounds on it. I didn't have a knife, but I pulled it up so at least anyone who put it down would see just how awful condition it was in. The old webbing that was being used as a handhold on the ladder side wasn't in much better shape.

I felt good about the ladder though, it seemed solid.

We warmed up as we hiked downstream and got into more sun. We started running into a few more people, as it was after school. I've seen photos from people who go on weekends, and it's a constant stream of people through the canyon, so I highly recommend trying to go at a non-peak time.

We got back to the first water slide and guess who had to give it a go! It was fun enough I went several times.

Desert Girl says she would write about this photo: "We went to a hike near Cedar City. We found a water slide. A rock water slide. It was very fun. But a bit cold."

Here's a link with directions on how to get to this hike. Make sure to check the forecast before you go to avoid flash floods, and have fun!