Southern Utah Trip

Mark and I had another Southern Utah trip planned for the spring, and it also got postponed due to covid. I'm so glad it did! We rescheduled for October, and we hit the area at the perfect fall time! The colors were amazing! We got another 48 miles in, and saw some amazing places! This trip is one of my all time favorites that we've done. This was our last big mileage weekend before our big race, so here's to hoping we did enough.

Kolob Canyon

Kolob Canyon is a little section of Zion National Park that is off the beaten path, so it's a lot less crowded. We loved it! 

La Verkin Trail/Kolob Arch:

The first trail we did was the longest, and we ran it to make sure we covered our running miles early on. We did almost 16 miles in a red rock, fall wonderland. It was great! Part way through the La Verkin Trail, we made a detour to Kolob Arch. 

The start of the trail.

We found the most perfect little waterfall along the creek!

I took so many pictures! The yellows were amazing!

Kolob Arch

Hello Fall!

This picture does not do the view justice at all.

Timber Creek Overlook:

We did a short hike to the Timber Creek Overlook. There was a wedding getting ready to start while we were there. What a cool pace to get married!

It was hazy, but on a clear day you can see Mt. Trumbull at the north rim of the Grand Canyon.

South Fork of Taylor Creek:

This was my favorite hike in the park. It's a little hidden gem! It's not on the map, and doesn't even have a sign at the trailhead. It was awesome!

Starting into the canyon.

So pretty!

Making our way to the slot canyon.

In certain areas the rock was so red!

We made it to the end!

Heading back out.

If you are ever in Kolob Canyon, don't skip this hike. It's only a few miles, and is so cool!

Middle Fork of Taylor Creek:

This was a supper cool hike too. The colors were fantastic on this one. This hike leads to Double Arch Alcove which was really cool. You also pass two homestead cabins that were built in the 1930s. This would be some rough country to try to make a living in.

The first cabin.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the day. I think it has just about all the fall colors in it.

I loved the yellow trees against the red cliffs.

The second cabin.

We felt very small walking through here.

Double Arch Alcove.

We went exploring a little ways past the arch.

That covers all of Kolob Canyon! We did a lot of miles, but we saw it all!

Pictures by the sign on the way out.

Kanarra Falls

Kanarra Falls has been on my bucket list since Pinterest became a thing. It totally exceeded my expectations! If you're ever passing through Cedar City, DO THIS HIKE! It requires a $12 permit that you can get online. Seriously, do it!

I was a little bit giddy!

We worked so hard keeping our feet dry on the way there. Ha, what a waste!

The trail leading to the slot canyon was so pretty.

Here we go!

It was seriously the coolest!

Almost to the first waterfall.

Ta-da! Waterfall number one!

Mark climbed right up.

We were out of the slot for a minute, and then we went right back in for the next big waterfall. There were several small waterfalls we had to climb over and get around.

So pretty!

Here we go again!

Waterfall number two! We had to laugh, because when we started, the worker told us not to go beyond this waterfall. He said he hikes up there every couple days to take down the logs and stuff that people prop up to get up the waterfall. When we got there, there was a full on aluminum ladder propped up! 😂

So much fall!

On the way out!

I've hiked in a lot of amazing places, and this is definitely one of the tops on my list of favorites now.

Spring Creek Canyon

Before we went on this trip, I looked on Alltrails to see if there were any other hikes we could do that were by Kanarra Falls. Spring Creek Canyon pulled up and was only five minutes away. That's all I knew about it. We went into this hike having no idea what it would be like, and it ended up being the best surprise of our trip. It's now also on our list of favorites. It was amazing! It was supposed to be five miles, but we explored well past the turn around point.

The very start.

We got excited when the canyon started getting more and more narrow. 

So fun!

At the opening of the canyon the trees were mostly yellow, but we hit some really good red patches too.

This video was on our way out.

So many cool places to explore.

Cedar Breaks

We still had a few hours of daylight left, so we decided to look up things that were close to Cedar City. On a whim we headed to Cedar Breaks National Monument. Best decision ever! It's like a mini Bryce Canyon. 

Spectrum Point/Rampart Trail:

We ran out to Spectrum Point and then kept right on running all the way out to the end of the Rampart Trail. Such a cool trail along the rim of Cedar Breaks. Amazing views!

This was our first glimpse of what Cedar Breaks was.

So cool! There were so many caves, arches, and other fun formations.

Alpine Pond Loop:

After that run, we did some view points and then hiked the Alpine Pond Loop. It wasn't that exciting, but we wanted to see it all, and we needed to kill time before the sunset.

Every once in awhile we'd get a good view on the Alpine Pond Loop.

The pond.

Sunset:

After our last hike, we went to a couple viewpoints as the sun was setting. So pretty! This is what I was waiting for!

It turned so red when the sun was going down.

😍😍😍

When the sun started going down, the temperature dropped significantly! We were freezing!

Ahhh, I love this!

And that's a wrap on our Southern Utah trip. It was definitely one of our best adventure weekends so far!