Sunday, May 6, 2012

Best Hikes Within 25 Miles of Kanab

Kanab, Utah. I live there. I hike there. These are our favorite local hikes:

Bunting Trail-well publicized and in town
Squaw Trail (the best view of the "Grand Staircase")-well publicized and in town
Solaredas Trail-in town
Skutumpah Canyon (rock art)
North Fork Tiny Canyon or Mace Cave (rock art & ruins)
Dinosaur track hike near Flag Point (rock art also and we saw mountain lions)

all of the above can get you home for lunch if started by 7 or 8 a.m.
the next 3, I would carry my lunch just in case

Mansard or Island in the Sky hike (rock art)
Kanab Creek east of Rt. 89 (Indian ruins)
North Fork Hog Canyon (including "Superman" rock art & waterglyphs)

the next 2 may require more than half a day, mostly because of access problems (and 4WD only)

Glass Eye or Flood Canyon Indian ruins (try to include Inch Worm Arch)
Peekaboo or Red Canyon (short & nice slot canyon)

the following is a long hike but worth the effort

Cottonwood or Ron Smith Indian ruin site (rattlesnakes)

15 comments:

  1. Hi,

    I found your site, and was wondering if you could tell me how to get to some of the hikes you mentioned? I live in Kanab, too, and am interested in exploring the following

    Skutumpah Canyon (rock art)
    North Fork Tiny Canyon or Mace Cave (rock art & ruins)

    Mansard or Island in the Sky hike (rock art)
    Kanab Creek east of Rt. 89 (Indian ruins)
    North Fork Hog Canyon (including "Superman" rock art & waterglyphs)


    Thanks, Isabel

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  2. I've searched long and hard for the glass eye indian ruins. Any insight you would care to share about where to find them would be greatly appreciated. What access road did you use before you hiked in?

    Jennessa

    jennessapeterson@gmail.com

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    1. The Grand Staircase-Escalante map from the BLM will help. You must have 4 WD. You may also get lucky & find a ranger at the visitors center who can help with directions. Take Johnson Canyon Rd. north off of Rt. 89 to Nephi Pasture Rd.(rt. 589) east. South on 556. Inchworm Arch is at the end of a short spur (558) south. There are two ways to Glass Eye Ruins.One is to go to the end of 564 and walk up the canyon east & north. The ruin is up high almost to the top on the north side of the canyon. It may also be accessed from the north rim of the canyon. Approximately from the junction of 563 & 562. I primarily recommend a sympathetic field ranger as signs get knocked down. The visitors center also has enlarged 7.5 maps. Long Canyon is also a neat place to the south of Nephi Pasture Rd. maybe 2 miles from Johnson Canyon Rd. Good Luck!

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  3. I live in Kanab as well and would love some directions for the Cottonwood/Ron Smith Indian Ruins! :)

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    1. To Cottonwood Ruins: start across rt. 89 from the Hog Canyon 4wd entrance (so you will be entering the dandy track on the west side of the hwy.) There is only one easy place to easily 4wd/ford Kanab Creek. Drive in as far as you can, then climb to the top of the rim on the north side of Trail Canyon. Eventually find a teepee shaped white dome rock formation & head for the deep red rocks directly above & NW of the teepee. Shortly thereafter you reach a fence & the top. After going through the fence, head WSW through sandy rim terrain for about 1 &1/4 miles. Keep Trail Canyon on your left. Try to keep westbound. After another hour, intersect an old 4wd trail, still heading westerly. 25 minutes on this obscure track brings you to an intersection with a more evident north and south 2 track. Go south on this track for 5 minutes to a locked gate and fence. Walk west along the fence 5 minutes or so to the canyon rim. At the end of the fence you are at the northern finger of a 3 finger canyon. Head south along the rim, keeping the canyon on your right. Stay close to the rim. Heading primarily west now eventually (15 minutes?) you will spot an alcove which faces west and is almost obscured by vegetation. There it is! Get out the binoculars to confirm. Scramble down. Beware of rattlers in this area! Difficult hike, approximately 7.5 miles round trip. Good luck. Let me know if you find it.

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    2. We ended up talking to a blm guy who gave us a map...those ruins were amazing! We also saw outlaw cave and looked for the greenough cabin, but no luck there as we were running out of daylight and had to find the bunting trail to get down to our car!

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    3. Tried to find these last week but no luck. I'm pretty sure we were in the right place and looking down into the canyon from the south rim of the 3rd canyon. Saw some grown over alcoves but with the temps getting up in the high 90's we decided to high tail it back. We didn't have any binoculars which may have helped. Nice 10 miles round trip hike though ... great views. Are there any GPS coordinates for this site? I plan to go back during cooler times!

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    4. The alcove is very overgrown with brush/shrubbery. With the binocs I was able to see a square (window) not found in nature, and went for it. Will be a nice autumn hike!

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    5. any coordinates for the Cottonwood/Ron Smith Indian Ruins

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    6. Foirgot, I can be reached at khartz90@hotmail.com. Thanks!

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  4. Tried to find both Inchworm Arch and Glasseye Indian Ruins today. Struck out on both. Any additional directions for either? For Inchworm Arch, we went to the corrals at the end of the spur road you mention (558). What direction/distance from the corrals?

    For Glasseye, we went to the end of 564 which ends at a fence and a watering trough. Are the ruins up the immediate left canyon where the old piping runs or up one of the other two canyons? We walked a considerable way up each one.

    Any GPS coordinates available?

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    1. Sorry, it's been awhile since I was there. I remember walking a couple of hundred yards down hill to the arch, which you can walk up to (i.e. it is not perched up high). As to the ruin, I too wandered around by the old piping, it is not that canyon. It might be easier to access from the top, therefore walking from the junction of 562 & 563. The GPS co-ordinates I have are: 37.093 - 112.3066. This is from another source, not from personal experience. Good luck.

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    2. I hiked to Glass Eye by walking west cross country from a corral just before Seaman Hill (up Great Western Trail Road north off Hwy 89). After scrambling to the mesa top at first, it becomes a nice hike through PJ country. No trail, just headed towards where I thought it was. When I found it, I took UTM coordinates for GE:

      386512.10 m E
      4106713.17 m N

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  5. We went out 558 too...just earlier this week! Never saw an arch but the rocks out there were pretty cool! We were planning on checking out the ruins out 564 too...which route do you suggest going?

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  6. Thank you very much for sharing the knowledge and information through this article.
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