Kanab Utah: Your Perfect Base for Zion, Bryce Canyon, Much More

All I knew about Kanab, Utah, when I turned my car toward it during my vagabond travels was where it appeared on a map:

• 41 miles from Zion National Park
• 76 miles from Bryce Canyon National Park
• 74 miles from Page, Arizona, and its famous Horseshoe Bend
• 80 miles from the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park
• 15 miles from the southwest edge of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

I didn’t even know if it was pronounced Ka-knob or Kan-ab, but it looked like a perfect central hub to set up a base for exploration. A welcome sign along Highway 89 exclaiming “Abra-Kanabra” let me know on my way in that the proper pronunciation is Ka-NAB.

I had nabbed an Airbnb that promised “sunsets on a secluded patio while you relax in the serenity of the area. With nothing but mountains and hills surrounding you...” They didn’t lie about that. It was about 15 minutes east of town, and I’m glad I made it there before the sun set because I would have never found it behind all the brush. Yes, it did allow you to take in “the natural beauty of Utah right from your backyard” because nature had been left unattended all around it.

But I wasn’t booking for luxury. It had the basics I needed: wifi that would allow me to work during the day, a passable kitchen, a decent bed, and a washer and dryer. And, it had several flyers from the local tourism organization that told me I’d landed in Utah’s “Little Hollywood.”

The red rock scenery around Kanab has led to a long history as a filming location for over 100 movies and television shows, especially Westerns. Productions like The Lone Ranger, Billy the Kid, and Stagecoach were filmed there, starting as early as 1924 with Deadwood Coach. The TV show Gunsmoke filmed many of its outdoor scenes in the very area where my house was located, and a replica of its Hollywood set was built up the road in the 1970s. Unfortunately, when I went looking for it, I found it in disrepair. Not much is left standing.    

But everywhere you turn around Kanab makes you feel like you’re starring in your own cowboy show. The area was originally home to the Paiute people, who gave it its name, which means "place of the willows." Mormon pioneers settled in the area in 1864, but it remained one of the most isolated towns in the U.S. for many years, surrounded by canyons and sandstone cliffs on the western edge of the Colorado Plateau.

The creation in 1996 of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument ensures that nearly 1.9 million acres of such landscape will continue to remain isolated. To access much of it you need a high-clearance vehicle, which my Volvo sedan certainly wasn’t. But it could take me to the Toadstool Hoodoos Trailhead, where I hiked between balanced rock formations to an awesome sunset viewing spot. Grand Staircase-Escalante is the first and largest national monument managed by the Bureau of Land Management, and if you’ve taken my advice to get an America the Beautiful pass, you can use it for entry if needed. Neither of the two places I entered the Monument had entry fee collection points.

I put my pass to good use while in Kanab, visiting Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, and the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. But I also found other interesting things to do and see while there.

One surprising suggestion I received from a local was to check out Best Friends Sanctuary for its $5 vegan lunch buffet. Always up for a good meal deal, I traveled five miles north of Kanab to the Sanctuary entrance and discovered so much more.

Best Friends is a nonprofit organization working to end the killing of dogs and cats in U.S. shelters by getting more pets out of shelters and into loving homes. Their Kanab sanctuary is the nation's largest for homeless animals, providing adoption, spay/neuter, and educational programs, as well as a top-notch vegan restaurant with the most amazing view.

The 3,700-acre Sanctuary is home to up to 1,600 dogs, cats, birds, bunnies, horses, pigs, and other animals. After my plant-based lunch at Angel Village Cafe, I hung out with some cute adoptable cats and then took a tour of their wildlife rehabilitation center. What its founders started with a few makeshift structures in the middle of nowhere in 1984 has grown into a nationwide movement bringing tangible lifesaving tactics to shelters and rescue groups across the U.S. Thanks to their work, roughly 2,500 shelters are now no-kill, including the Austin Animal Center through which I fostered and then adopted my cat Bijou, who was on this vagabond trip with me.

She stayed back at the house when I visited the Sanctuary, and when I went on a different type of animal adventure – horse riding to a slot canyon.

One of the most Instagram-famous slot canyons, Antelope Canyon, is in Page, Arizona, an easy day trip from Kanab. I made that trip to visit Page’s other most-Instagrammed sight, the Horseshoe Bend of the Colorado River. But I decided to get my canyon view through the more intimate experience of a small group horse ride north of Kanab in Orderville, Utah.

Our rendezvous point was a charming local coffee shop that exuded hipster chic, but the guides who met us there were pure country cowboy and cowgirl. We made a short drive to their corral, where everyone saddled up for a cool morning walk to the canyon, punctuated by a slight trot when a rock slide briefly startled our herd. It was something our guides said they hadn’t experienced in all their other rides and helped make the excursion all the more memorable.

For a location I’d chosen purely for its geographic convenience, Kanab turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The town’s blend of cinematic legacy, pioneer and Native American heritage, outdoor adventure, and quirky small-town charm made it one of my most interesting and unique destinations. A place I wouldn’t mind revisiting and spending even more time exploring southern Utah.