Arizona/ Utah Trip Day 1 Kanab Utah

 Today I embark on my latest adventure I am with my friend Hiking Group. We have 12 of us flying from Sacramento to Las Vegas from there we rent cars and will be driving to multiple locations along the Arizona Utah border area. 

Our first nights lodging is at the historic Perry Hotel made famous for the western films that were produced in this area. The surrounding mountains are a beautiful red stone.

After checking into the hotel, we took a quick seven minute drive to Pugh Canyon for our first hike. It rained on the last 30 minutes of our drive. With a light drizzle as we checked into the hotel 15 minutes later the rain had just stopped and we arrived at the trailhead to a bright clear sunny sky. The red wall canyons are breathtaking.

As we start up the canyon, we cross a water channel created by erosion that is now dry 

We continue to have beautiful view all around us The sedimentary lines on the cliff faces are well pronounced

The time with friends on my hikes are a bonus to the beauty of creation. 

We dropped down and crossed another dry drainage, much deeper than the first

As we wind alongside a dry river bed, there are a number of different varieties of trees and foliage 

Each time we turn a corner, we are rewarded with another unique cliff face 

Our trail travels directly at the base of this well worn cliff face.

Slightly over 1 1/2 mile we reach the end of the trail where the canyon boxes out. If we were a little more adventurous, we could scramble over some of the loose dirt and rock and pop out End, but it’s the beginning of the trip and time to turn around

As we turn around and head back towards our vehicles, the sun is starting to set. My eye is caught by more of the beautiful plant life along the trail. As I head back, the sun filtering through the leaves of the full trees is a beautiful site. 

The contrasting red and white colors in these rocks along the trail look painted, but are all natural.

We arrive back to the vehicles as the sun is casting long shadows. We load up for a short drive to dinner before returning to our hotel for the nightly movie shown in the “barn”, a western of course.

Day 1 done, a great start to what should be a fantastic week.