So, we got a bit crazy on saturday.
We got up at 8am and drove 4 hours down to Kanarraville to do the Kanaraville Falls hike, then drove home that night. It is a unique hike through a slot canyon carved by the Kanaraville Creek. Quite a nice hike on a hot day.
You walk about 1-1.5 miles on a trail along side the creek, and then walk right into the entrance to a slot canyon that was carved by the creek. From that point on you are walking in the river a-la The Narrows at Zion National Park. As you walk, you come across several falls you need to traverse. Some have ladders/ropes that have been placed by other hikers. Others you need to navigate using only what god gave you. We walked up to a point where there is a moss covered rock that doubles as a water slide. We spent some time there and then hiked back down.
The walk along the river. The trail crosses the river at several locations along here, so you can also choose to walk into the river. Most people seem to walk along side on the way up and then drop all pretense on the way back down after spending an hour walking in the river.
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This is looking back at the entrance to the slot canyon from inside the canyon. The transition is abrupt as the trail goes up the canyon to the end and runs into this wall.
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These are the first major falls you come across while in the slot canyon. You can see the ladder that was fabricated by previous hikers. It is stable but slippery and so this ends up being quite a bottleneck later in the day. This picture was luck that there wasn't anyone else in it as there are a dozen or so people that just went up the ladder. On the way down later in the day, it was crowded with people waiting to both go up and down. I'd plan on spending a good 30 minutes in one direction or another while waiting for groups to traverse it. There are plenty of distractions around for kids so it wasn't too bad of a wait. At the top there is plenty of room so it is easy to keep the kids away from the edge.
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The "natural water slide".
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The hike to the slide isn't that far, around 3.5-4 miles round trip, but the hiking in the river is slow. We expected to take about 3 hours round trip but it took us 4. There are more falls further up the river that we didn't get to since it took longer than expected and we needed to get back onto the road. The walk down is plenty long enough that you end up getting pretty dry in the summer sun, except for your shoes. You have to traverse the river a couple of times on the way down so it keeps your shoes nice and wet. So bring an extra pair to drive away in.
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Originally Posted by Devildog
