Kanab Utah and Red Canyon Country

Crazy Horse RV Park, Kanab UT

Our RV parked under Savage Point in Kanab Utah.

Another great place to lift my leg is in Kanab, Utah. It’s a great place for us dogs. The Best Friends Animal Sanctuary (http://www.bestfriends.org/) is there, they have an annual Greyhound (dog) Gathering and it’s a great off-leash place for me with all the open spaces. I like places where I can be free and roam about looking for other dogs, animals and of course, the smells. Ah, the smells along the trail.

Kanab Utah is a great place to lift your leg, esp in early Spring and late Fall.

Kanab is in the southern part of Utah, next to the Arizona border, and not too far from that big hole in the ground that Dad calls the Grand Canyon. According to Dad, the dirt around Kanab is red, but to me it’s all the same. Red is a concept I just don’t understand! I know its fun to roll around in it (it helps me get rid of the bugs on my back.) There are large cliffs above us, and open spaces to run around in (when Dad agrees it’s safe to do so.)

I like to walk along the cliffs above Kanab. I see a lot of Jack Rabbits.

We stay in a little RV Park called Crazy Horse Campark. Right behind us is a play area beneath the large and steep cliffs that I can roam around in when Dad takes me there. The biggest cliff is called Savage Point and we climb up it quite a ways and can see the whole area from there. I like to run fast down the cliff, but Dad walks (so slowly) because he claims two wheeled animals like him might fall if they run. I’m glad to be a 4 wheeler!

Every morning we walk along the trail at the foot of Savage Point in Kanab, UT.

Every day we take a long walk along a wide dirt path that is about 200 feet up the side of the cliff. The cliff here is about 2 miles in length and this path winds up and down and around some canyons and offers some great dirt and views! Of course I have to be careful because there are some really steep drop-offs. Dad says I’d be hurt if I fell from them. Another great thing about the cliffs is that there are these long-eared Jack rabbits that I can chase. I never catch them because they can leap about 15 feet in the air when I get near. ..and they go down the cliffs where I can’t reach them. But I still like to chase them. Also there are herds of deer that live on the cliffs. Every morning I smell them and they drive me crazy when I can’t see them too.

I love to run along the Cliffs in Kanab.

Sometimes Dad and Mom take me to the end of the road next to the cliffs in the car (it’s about a mile away) and we walk up this long canyon called Pugh Canyon. Wow, it’s so big and has so much room to run. It has a creek and a lot of side canyons to explore. I run until I can just see Mom or Dad (and then I stop because I don’t want them to get lost). Rabbits are everywhere and there are Cypress trees to get some shade. When we visit, usually in the early Springtime, or late Fall the weather is nice, but Dad says we don’t want to come here in the Summer because it’s too hot. With my thick coat, I’d be really uncomfortable. He also tells Mom that Winter time is cold and often snowy, so we come at the right time. Besides, the pretty wildflowers are blooming here in the Spring and that keeps Dad busy so I can explore all the smells and roll in the soft dirt.

Dad loves Kanab and the nearby area because it’s so beautiful and he likes to photograph it. Within an hour or two’s drive from the RV Park there is Zion National Park, Bryce National Park, Esclante National monument, Capital Reef National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, and Lake Powell. There is so much to do and see. Dad often takes me with him in the car.

Cottonwood Road in Escalante Natl Monument is an awesome trip.


It's fun to play in the Paria River near Kanab, Utah.

My favorite trip is along Cottonwood Road in the Escalante National Monument. It’s a really long drive and I get to put my head out the window the whole time because Dad drives on the rough dirt road so slowly. There are many beautiful cliffs and geologic displays, a river, and lots of places where we stop and run around (Dad photographs, of course). There are these really neat narrow canyons that Dad calls “Slot Canyons”. We explore them and I jump over logs, climb slippery rocks and sniff all the strange animals that have been there before me. You look straight up and barely see the sky from deep in the canyon. It’s almost spooky.

Here I am in a slot canyon at Wirepass in Escalante Natl Monument. Its scary in here!

At the end of this road is a place Dad calls Kodachrome State Park that has large spires called Hoodoos. They are great places to lift your leg. Dad says it’s really colorful (it’s mostly grey to me) and there’s a nice trail that goes up the side of a cliff so you can see the whole area.

Another great side trip from Kanab is to a place called Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. It’s not very far and they have the neatest smooth pink sand dunes (duh!). You can roll in it and its usually cool just a couple inches under the surface. Be careful not to roll around in an area your Dad is photographing. Mine gets grumpy when I mess up the sand he’s about to photograph. The only thing Dad doesn’t like about it is that they allow those noisy ATVs to drive through the dunes and mess up the scenery. Sigh!

Dad and I climbed into a cave that the wind carved near the Good Friends Sanctuary.

Dad’s favorite trip is to a place he calls Toroweap Overlook of the Grand Canyon. This is a long trip from Kanab (about 80 miles) and 60 miles of it is down a dirt road. I get to hang my head out the window most of the time because Dad’s driving slow to avoid getting the tires blown-out. In Spring Dad stops all the time to photograph the wildflowers, so it takes almost 3 hours to get there.

The Grand Canyon is behind me and straight down. I was a little afraid up here, so close to the edge.

But when we get there I get to run around, except next to the ledge. There’s a drop off there about 2000 feet straight down in the Grand Canyon. It’s a big hole in the ground with lots of pretty ledges and (according to Dad) beautiful colors, and a bright green river down the middle (it’s called the Colorado river, and every Dog who knows his Spanish knows it means Red River, but it appears Green to Dad, so maybe it was named by an early canine explorer who had trouble with that Red/Green idea!) There are snakes and lizards to chase and lots of flowers for Dad. It’s a great place to visit. Dad warns me about the snakes, especially the ones with the cute rattling sounds. Mom and I found one on the trail last time and she shrieked really loud that it scared me.

I loved to ride the boat at Lake Powell in Arizona, not far from Kanab, Utah.


Just call me Captain Reggie.

One time we went to nearby Lake Powell and Dad got a boat. It was in early December and was a bit cold, but that was fine for me (I carry my own coat with me!) We got to ride all around the lake without anyone else there. We could go 40 mph and the water would splash in my face. We would stop on an island and Dad let me run around and then jump in the water. Wow, that was fun! We even rode in the boat 60 miles to a place called Rainbow Bridge National Monument.

We stopped on an Island to play together. I like playing with Dad.

What's the big deal about a big hole in a rock? This is Rainbow Bridge.

It was this really big natural bridge made of rock (the biggest in the world they say). I had to be on a leash, but we walked about a mile or two so we could get a really good picture. Then we got on the boat and went back. It was fun riding the boat all day and having this big lake all to ourselves. However, I was really tired at the end of the trip.

All that boating tires me at the end of the day. Phewy on the scenery!

Other trips we take include going to Zion National Park. It’s got huge steep red cliffs and lots of beautiful mountains, a river and wildflowers, but for dogs, there is only one trail in the valley that you can take (Pa'rus Trail, located near the Zion Canyon Visitor). It’s nice but I’ve got to stay on leash. I meet lot’s of other dogs on a busy day.

There is one place they allow dogs like me to walk in Zion Nat'l Park and I love it.

Of course Dad loves Bryce National Park with it’s huge red spires, but us dogs can only walk along the roadway. Bummer! I intend to write to the National Park Service people about letting us dogs a bit more freedom in their parks. You’d think they thought humans were quieter, and less of a problem than dogs. People, can’t live with them, can’t live without them!

If you come to Kanab in May you’ll get to see a lot of rescued greyhound dogs. They are all over town and like to play with me. If you want to see other rescued dogs, go to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. It’s a fun place to visit (they won’t let me tour it though).

All in all Kanab is one of my favorite places to visit. Being in the RV we can go an stay a month at a time and pretend that we live there. It’s pretty cool living and traveling in an RV.

Hope to see you someday in Kanab, Utah.

Arf, Reggie