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Waterfalls and a Slot Canyon - Best Type of Hike!
Kanarra Falls has been on my hiking wish list for years. Up to our summer vacation in 2025, we’d hiked through several slot canyons, but none with a waterfall in it, let alone 4 of them. Kanarra Falls is a beautiful canyon and was worth the wait!
Until hiking this trail, I didn’t know much about this trail, other than having seen the picture of the waterfall with the ladder (which has since been replaced by a staircase). I think there are some helpful things to realize about this hike ahead of time.
1) The trail to Kanarra Falls is 3.6 miles (out-and-back). The slot canyon doesn’t start until 1.5 miles into the hike. There is a long section exposed to the sun (and heat) before reaching the creek. There is an option to either walk up the creek (most of it – there are some parts that need to be bypassed) or there is a trail with creek crossings until reaching the slot canyon. We wore water shoes the whole way, but it would make sense to choose hiking boots due to how much of the trail occurs outside of the water. It’s Utah – shoes/boots will mostly dry if they are left outside overnight. The water level is going to vary based on precipitation. For us it was just ankle-deep. The sections directly below the waterfalls were a bit deeper, but these sections of the canyon can easily be bypassed.
2) This hike is less than 4 miles, the incline is mostly at the beginning, and overall, I’d rank this trail as moderately easy. I think most kids would have a blast here, especially with the option to hike in the creek. Agility is required though, both for the sections of the trail that require walking in the water, and one large scramble over a boulder between the second and third waterfall. Hiking poles will be helpful for taller hikers (kids over 12?) when navigating the water sections. The water is clear, but a lot of the visible rocks are unstable.
3) The trail maps state “Lower Falls” and “Upper Falls.” We almost stopped early on this hike because we were at the third waterfall, which didn’t make sense to us… We thought there were just two. There are four waterfalls. Keep hiking until you can’t get above the last waterfall.
Logistics - Permits, Parking, and Nearby Cities
Kanarra Falls requires a $15/person permit. The number of permits is capped at 200 hikers per day, and they do sell out. These permits can be purchased ahead of time at www.KanarraFalls.com.
Trailhead to Kanarra Falls, prior to the Permit Station
The trailhead is located at East 100 North Street, Kanarraville. There is a large parking lot with a shaded picnic pavilion and bathrooms with flushable toilets. Up the trailhead a short distance is a building where someone will be checking permits. Screen snapshots of the permits worked perfect. It was a bit puzzling to me though, why was this building on the trail and not next to the parking lot? There is a also a second vault toilet on the trail, about 0.3 miles from the trailhead. This was weird to me too… I’m guessing the parking lot / pavilion area is newer?
Kanarra Falls Permit Station
For those that don’t live close enough to drive to Kanarra Falls in a day, the other detail to determine is where to spend the night. The closest cities with large airports are Las Vegas (approximately 2 hours away) and Salt Lake City (approximately 3 hours away). There are a lot of cool things to do near Kanarra Falls, so I wouldn’t suggest a day to drive out and back to just do this hike.
The closest city to Kanarra Falls is Cedar City (18 minutes away). We stayed there once on Spring Break trip when we flew into Salt Lake City. Cedar City was a good place to stop for our first night. We just spent one night and then we settled into St. George for several more nights.
St. George is an hour drive from Kanarra Falls, and it’s a nice large city. There are tons of hotels and chain restaurants and it’s a great place to replace things that have been forgotten in the process of packing. Kanab is another nice option for spending several nights, and it’s also an hour drive from Kanarra Falls. Kanab is a small town with a couple of hotels and just local restaurants. We’ve had fantastic stays in both places.
Zion National Park is also near Kanarra Falls. For anyone planning a multi-day trip to Zion, I’d recommend staying in Springdale (another small town, but a little more “hopping” with tourists than Kanab). Springdale is also an hour to Kanara Falls.
Where to stay really depends on what else you want to see, and how much driving you want to do each day, versus how many times you want to pack up a hotel room. We’ve stayed in all of these cities on various trips, and they’ve all been quite nice.
Hotels with indoor pools are hard to find in this part of Utah. Half the time that we’ve found these unicorn hotels, the indoor pool has been closed for maintenance during Spring Break. Outdoor pools are a bit easier to find, but it’s cold in March. My boys are in the pool, but there was no way I was going to get in.
When to Hike Kanarra Falls
One last logistical consideration for Kanarra Falls is the time of year to visit. I know most families consider three times of the year to travel – Christmas Holiday, Spring Break, and Summer Vacation. I haven’t been to Utah in December, so I cannot speak directly to that time of year, but we had previously tried to visit Kanarra Falls three times during Spring Break trips. In March 2019, it snowed the night before we planned to hike, and the car couldn’t make it up the slight hill in the road leading up to the parking lot. There were No Parking signs posted on every other side road. We had other places we wanted to hike within Zion National Park, so we left without getting hike to Kanarra Falls. Had we been able to stay and hike later in the afternoon, it might have been beautiful. I had purchased high rubber boots for us to wear in the creek to keep our feet dry.
The Kolob Canyons entrance to Zion National Park is about 10 minutes from Kanarra Falls. After our unsuccessful at getting to the Kanarra Falls trailhead in March 2019, I drove up in Kolob Canyons…. This is an absolutely gorgeous view of Zion, but it was covered in snow and clouds. We gave up and drove south to the main Zion National Park entrance by Springdale, where we enjoyed the rest of our day.
We tried again to visit Kanarra Falls in March 2021. Due to COVID, we had road-tripped out to Utah, rather than flying. The problem this year was the Rocky Mountains (these mountains have caused problems each time we drive in March, which is why we typically fly during Spring Break). A winter storm was going to drop 18 inches of snow, so we ended up needing to dramatically switch our trip last minute to be able to get through those mountains ahead of the storm.
We were nearby Kanarra Falls again in March 2023, but this year was so snowy in late February, I didn’t even try… There was no way I was going to go in a slot canyon. 2023 was the year that I finally admitted this hike was just not going to happen in March. If we wanted to see it, we were going to need to plan a summer trip out to southern Utah… Not my favorite plan…
It was 106F in St. George when we stayed in June 2025, but my fourth attempt to try this hike was successful! And it was worth the wait. A trip to southern Utah in the summer is not my recommendation though.... We did find several canyons with water to hike in / swim in. 90% of our trip in June ended up being perfect, but it was because we were looking for options to stay cool rather than trying to see everything in Utah during one trip. Kanarra Falls is probably best for a summer trip, but most of my favorite trails in southern Utah would be better hiked during a winter or spring trip.
Hiking up Kanarra Falls
The total hike out-and-back to Kanarra Falls is 3.6 miles. I marked on the map where the slot canyon actually starts, and the first and last waterfall are marked in blue text. The parking lot is marked with a black star. The majority of this trail is requires hiking to and from the slot canyon. In the midafternoon, the summer sun on the exposed part of the trail is going to be brutally hot, especially on the way to the canyon, before being able to get wet.
Trail map to Kanarra Falls
The first mile to Kanarra Falls is a jeep trail. It’s boring, uphill, and very exposed to the sun.
Hiking the first mile to Kanarra Falls looks like this.
And it keeps going. There are some beautiful surrounding canyons… But the trail is not in their shade. On a hot day, it would be better to hike in the morning than the afternoon.
Jeep trail to Kanarra Falls
About 0.3 miles into the hike (past the permit station), there is another bathroom - this time a vault toilet. I’m assuming this was here before the nice flushable toilets back at the picnic pavilion and parking lot that hikers probably left less than 10 minutes prior? We were a bit confused as to why there was another bathroom so close. This is the last one on the trail.
Vault toilets exist about 1/3 mile past the permit station. But there are nicer flushable toilets back at the trailhead.
Just after the vault toilet, the trail crosses the creek for the first time. We stayed on the trail. The creek would be a good option if it’s really hot (although it’s a little bit longer of a distance than the trail.)
First creek crossing along the Kanarra Falls trail
As the trail continues, it stays exposed in the sun. Be prepared, wear sunscreen and bring extra water to drink.
Walking up to Kanarra Falls
The trail is prettier here than the original Jeep trail section. The incline also levels out, so this section of the trail is quite pleasant, other than being exposed to the sun. By this point though, we were starting to wonder when we would find the slot canyon. I hadn’t realized how far we needed to walk before we reached it.
Hiking up to Kanarra Falls
Eventually the trail drops back down near the creek. For anyone that is getting hot on the trail - jump in the creek and soak clothing. There’s an option to stay in the creek for the majority of the trail for those that want to.
Hiking to Kanarra Falls
About a mile into the hike, there is a barbed wire fence. After the fence, the majority of the trail has large amounts of shade and frequent creek crossings.
There is a barbed wire fence about a mile into the Kanarra Falls trail. Following this section, there is more shade and frequent creek crossings.
Between the shade and walking in the water, it was much easier to stay cool.
Frequent creek crossings on the way to Kanarra Falls
There are several spots in the creek that have little rapids, where it would be tough to climb over the rocks safely. We bypassed the creek in these spots along the nearby trail.
Hiking to Kanarra Falls
Eventually the trail stops, and everyone will need to merge into the creek for the remainder of the trip. Having hiking poles helped a lot. The water is clear, so the rocks within the creek are easy to see, but it’s hard to tell just from looking which rocks are stable. That hiking pole works like having another leg which provides stability when a rock shifts underfoot.
Walking up to Kanarra Falls
The slot canyon starts abruptly, about 1.5 miles into the hike. The rest of the hike is amazing!
Entering the Kanarra Falls Slot Canyon
From the beginning of the slot canyon to the first waterfall, it’s only 0.1 miles, so there are only a few turns in the canyon until the waterfall is visible. If there are people in front, just give them a few moments. They will take pictures and then head upstream, where they will be out of view. We found it pretty easy to space ourselves out and enjoy the peacefulness of this canyon.
Hiking through a slot canyon with a moving creek under our feet was an amazing experience! This is the same water that formed this canyon.
This picture is just a few steps around the bend shown in the first picture
The canyon is going to curve left, and there is one wide section that can be used to stay out of people’s pictures, if other hikers are nearby. From this spot in the canyon, the first waterfall becomes visible.
The ladder that went up the first waterfall (Lower Falls) has been replaced with a staircase. It’s still beautiful, and I’ll appreciate the safer option. It did surprise me though, as I hadn’t seen any pictures of the newer staircase.
Kanarra Lower Falls
Family picture - the water near this waterfall is not deep
The water was pretty shallow for us at the top of the waterfall too. Just on the left side, there was a large dry spot for us to sit and have a picnic lunch. And we were out of view of any pictures being taken below the falls.
In just a few steps, the next waterfall will come into view. There isn’t a trail to follow, but the waterfall can be bypassed by scrambling up the big boulder on the right. This was the most significant rock scramble we came across along the hike.
Second waterfall can be bypassed by going up the boulder on the right side
Better picture of the second waterfall - and my boys are showing me how to climb up that large boulder
Because it was hot, it was fun to take advantage when there were deeper sections in the water closer the waterfalls. It’s easy to bypass this though and stay shallow.
Standing next to the second waterfall in Kanarra Falls.
After scrambling over the boulder, continue heading upstream. There are two more waterfalls to find. The canyon widens out a bit between the second and third waterfall, and the walls are much shorter.
Hiking upstream towards the third waterfall in Kanarra Falls
The third waterfall in Kanarra Falls is not in a slot section of the canyon. In fact, the canyon is wide enough here that there are lots of places to get out of the water. This is the other spot to enjoy a dry picnic.
This third waterfall is a step falls. At this point in the hike, I was very confused, because I thought there were just two waterfalls. We had found three, so I thought this must be the turnaround point. My oldest son wandered upstream though, and came back telling us there was a fourth waterfall up ahead. Keep going!
Kanarra Falls - Third Waterfall
This waterfall isn’t too deep either, and made for a fun place to take photos
The slot canyon forms again above the third waterfall. The walls aren’t quite as high as at the beginning, but this is still a beautiful section of the canyon.
Between the third waterfall and Kanarra Upper Falls (fourth waterfall)
This last Kanarra waterfall (fourth and labeled as Upper Falls) is almost as pretty as Lower Falls. It’s not quite as tall, and the canyon isn’t quite as dramatic, but it was fun hiking this last bit of the journey. There is no bypass option here to get over this waterfall. This is the turnaround point.
Kanarra Upper Falls
Overall, we loved this hike! It wasn’t a hard, minus that one tough boulder scramble. The creek was fun to walk through (with hiking poles). It was a great hike to cool off in (after that exposed jeep road section of the trail). I really think younger kids would have a blast hiking this trail.
For us, Kanarra Falls was a great practice run for Zion Narrows, which we did two days later, taking the top-down option for the hike. I’ve seen a few posts comparing Kanarra Falls and Narrows to rank one over the other. I don’t agree that these hikes are comparable. One is less than 4 miles ad the other is over 17 miles (and that doesn’t count the extra miles for anyone hiking back and forth and back and forth along the Virgin River). One is easy, and the other was ridiculously hard. Kanarra falls was ankle deep, Zion Narrows was chest deep (at the beginning for anyone hike upstream from the bottom), making it difficult for smaller children to hike. The slot canyon portion of Kanarra Falls is 0.2 miles, the slot canyon section of Zion Narrows is over 2 miles - by far the hardest part of the Narrows hike. Kanarra Falls is permitted, limiting the number of hikers. For anyone hiking from the bottom up, Zion Narrows isn’t permitted for the first several miles, and it’s crazy full of people on a hot day. The top-down part of the hike (which is permitted), was the best way to hike the Narrows to get the quiet canyon experience. These were such different days for us, I wouldn’t say one is a better option than the other. We loved both.