I leave work early, drive down to the Zion Kolob visitor center to pick up a permit, get dropped off at Lava Point, backpack the west rim solo, and then get picked up in the main canyon the next day. Everything looked great until we realized we were going to make it to the permit office at 6:08 and they closed at 6:00. After multiple phone calls pleading with the back country desk to please stay open or leave a permit outside for me it became quite apparent they would not budge and help me out… thanks for nothing Zion National Park. At that point I was pretty disappointed that I would not be backpacking, we decided to fill the void by hiking up Kanarra Creek to shoot a few photos of the falls.

We arrived at the new parking lot around 6:20pm and paid the new $10 fee. The 10bucks to park seems a bit steep, especially when you have no clue where your money is going. Does it go to the town or the local who created the parking lot? The first part of the hike is a 1mile road walk that crosses the stream a few times before the road dead ends. At this point you are in and out of the water a dozen times (best trails always seem to be on the left side when hiking up) before you reach the first slot. At the end of the slot is one of most photogenic waterfalls in all of Utah.

View Kanarra Crek in a larger map

Unfortunately for me the only footwear I packed for the weekend was my backpacking boots and and pair of flip flops. I knew from our trip up Kanarra last year that there was no way I could keep from going over the tops of my boots so I chose flip flops. Obviously this was a bad choice for the uneven wet terrain. The highlight was ascending/descending the log ladder with my 25lb camera pack while spotting my 4yo in my flip flops.

We climbed up the ladder and hiked 15min or so up canyon to the second set of narrows and then turned around.

We made it back to the car about 9pm and then drove to St.George for a weekend of pool hopping with my family. On the way back we made quick stop at Cedar Breaks to check out the flow in Ashdown gorge and walk around the rim of Cedar breaks where the wild flowers were in full bloom.