Kanab Things to Do

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They have a tour set up to see the older homes along a couple of streets near the Visitor Center. The tour is nice, and the homes preserved, and locals are pround of their heritage in settling this town. There are 5 basic restored homes along 1st Street South and Main St. They have a little literature for the history of each. Other sites on the tour spread around the town and the walk could take 1+ hours to see all. The pictures below are of a couple of the preserved homes. Some others are actually now closed, or "modified" to something else. Heritage House is open for tours in summer and on National Register. The home is from around 1885 era. The other house is called Rider-Pugh house. It is a Victorian from 1892, and descendants still live in the house today.

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OK, you're in Kanab and you have a day to play. Just head north to Hancock Rd on the left and proceed to the end, make a left and the Park entrance is a mile or so on the left. Go play in the dunes (careful of ATV's), do the nature trail, pretty cool. The footprints of different animals are all over the dunes, must be alive at night.

After the turn off of 89, about 8/10ths miles in you'll see a unique rock formation on the right. If you have 4WD you can easily drive to it but it is sandy! Last time I was there, people were camped, so be courteous. If you walk downhill from the formation you'll see another large rock ahead, go behind it and you'll find a very cool arch. I recently told a Park Ranger about that arch and he didn't know about it. Now you do! See my pictures, they'll help with recognizing the turn.

At the park visitors center get a map to the Indian Canyon petroglyphs. This will require a 4WD vehicle, it is VERY sandy. If you don't have experience driving in sand don't do this trail.
I stop about a half mile from the trailhead and park at a small wash on the left. The hike is sandy but pretty easy, it does have Sun exposure. At the trailhead you head down into the canyon. There no trail markings but the trail of use is easy to follow. The reward at the end is an alcove with some terrific petroglyphs. Take some time to look at them, there are alot there. These are behind a fence so please take just pictures.

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This is a saved movie set that was used for a number of cowboy movies filmed here. One more notable was Outlaw Josie Wales portrayed by Clint Eastwood. The town of Kanab had 300 cowboy movies made over years 1930 to 1990. Many times the set went out to the outback and rustic pristine areas in the region. I would not want to venture to see some of those because you get stuck in a vehicle on sandy roads. I did get stuck by the Paria movie set on Hwy 89 about 60 miles from Kanab. It was risky to get to the site, in my opinion
This set is behind a gift shop and the entrance is free. It is at the North/west end of town on main street. The ulterior motive is to sell you some gifts in the shop that you have to walk through to see the set. It was small and merely a set up of small buildings, making it look like a bigger life setting that it was.

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The Hopi interpretation for the name is "dead" in their language. This is a gift store and museum type store about 6 miles north of town on Hwy 89. It is unique to say the least. It was, unfortunately closed when I was in town. This is form the outside and a picture I found of inside. The Chamberlain family has operated this place for years and they are descendants of town founders. The sad part is the father went to prison for polygamy. He had 6 wives and 55 children. So why wouldn't the chance of someone being related around Kanab?
The cave inside is 200 feet deep. It has the largest collection of dinosaur tracks. They also have Indian artifacts, arrowheads, rocks and minerals stones.
It is open MOnday-Saturday 9-7PM

I drove to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State park outside of Kanab. It was a bit of a drive off the highway to get there. 10 to 15 minutes at any rate.

This is a State Park so you will have to pay $5.00 to enter. It is just kind of odd to see pink sand dunes in SW Utah.

Worth seeing at least once.

This museum was closed when I was there, but I got information for when you return. It is a cultural center that has some local art works and some town artifacts. This used to be an old school and not very big. From what I learned, there is not a lot inside to make a long tour of it. Admission is free.

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This is a large complex off Hwy 89 north of Kanab about 5 miles. A turn off and going down a side road take you to the complex. It is set up to take care of abandoned animals. It is the largest animal sanctuary in the US, and has an average of 1700 animals here at one time. A lot are not visible and located in another close by location to here. I do not know how they get this far out in the remote terrain, but it is a large area. They have a corral for some animals, a gift shops and information center. There are also places to stay overnight. Tours are available of the grounds. They have 27,00 annual visitors. It has been in operation for 25 years

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There are a number of animal statues and carvings around town that are of interest. These are some of those. They all are different and unique and have significant meaning to the locals. The main theme is to memorialize the movie set history around the area-and then the others? for tourism purposes. Buffalo used to be on the range around here, but no longer; only the memory and statues are left now.