We got to spend most of January in our vacation rental home in Kanab. Since we were last there, it has welcomed paying guests and home exchangers from all over the world, and we got to ‘revisit’ some of those places through those visitors’ gifts.

Of course we are also here to revisit our own beautiful part of the world! Our first weekend, we took a long but easy hike along a dry river bed to the otherworldly Wahweep Hoodoos. It was about an hour’s drive away and 9 miles roundtrip with most of the interest at the end, definitely worth the payoff!

Another star attraction was Red Canyon, the gateway to Bryce National Park. It has similar scenery with the hoodoos and incredible rock formations, but none of the crowds. We literally had the entire hike to ourselves, probably because it was barely above freezing. The only signs of other people were cars driving through the rock tunnels on their way to Bryce.

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Closer to home, we found a few more new spots to explore. The Mansard Trail is a nice short climb on the outskirts of town and very well maintained. The destination: a huge wall of petroglyphs, which you can see behind me. 

Our friends took us out in their jeep to see something even older, dinosaur tracks at Flagpole Point. This was also a spot where the Anasazi tribe would camp and shoot intruders onto their land. Besides the history, both these spots had miles and miles of those classic Utah views. 

My family came to visit for a weekend and it was such a pleasure to explore some favorite and new spots. On their first day we took them to Cedar Breaks National Monument in search of snow. This park is at 10k feet so it gets a lot colder and quite a bit more precipitation than Kanab. Last year, we hiked the rim trail but this year it was inaccessible, so we just walked to a viewpoint by the road. We spent just a couple of minutes in the frigid wind looking at that view. We continued on to the Brian Head ski area for some lunch and a short hike - hard work in the deep snow.

Since we were already up north, we decided to make a loop through Panguitch. The name is a Paiute word for ‘big fish.’ Despite being fully frozen over, there were still diehard fishermen seeking out those panguitch - my first time seeing ice fishing.

From there we continued on to Red Canyon for a second look. We took a shorter trail from the visitor’s center and got to walk right amongst the hoodoos! It was a long and chilly day out and we were all ready to relax in the hot tub that night!

The next day we took it a little easier with more scenic driving and less hiking. We took the Marble Canyon Loop which takes highway 89 down through Arizona’s Vermillion Cliffs, over the historic Navajo Bridge, and past Lake Powell. We got to take Nathan’s parents to these same sites the prior year, and we all enjoyed it enough to revisit. At the Cliff Dwellers site, you can explore the remains of Navajo rock homes. The bridge is an opportunity to spot nesting condors.

On our way back we took one my absolute favorite short hikes near Kanab. The Toadstool Hoodoos are quite different but just as interesting as Wahweep, and only about a mile from the highway.

The family did a little exploring on their own during their last day while we worked. Then Pinky headed home and my parents off to their own road trip through New Mexico and Texas. The day after they left, we got a dusting of snow in town.

For our final weekend, we got to one more new hike. I have recommended Elkhorn Cliffs slot canyon to visitors without having actually seen it. Now that I have, I recommend it even more wholeheartedly! You can park right off the highway and walk to the canyon without a special vehicle or climbing equipment. Above the slot, the rest of the riverbed was a fun walk with a rainbow of different stones, a little snow left on the ground and warm sun above.

The next day we left for Vegas, where I had a conference to attend. Nathan was able to work in the suite and we got out for one evening together for a Lunar New Year dinner in Chinatown and a Cirque de Soleil show back on the strip. Then, it was on our way back to San Francisco and the Northwest.