Skip to main content

Best-Laid Plans Can Go Awry

On Sunday morning on our way out of Page and the Lake Powell area, we filled up all of our water bottles at the other Glen Canyon campground that we didn’t know about, where they had potable water. It was very hot and very dry and we had been going through a lot of water, especially camped where we were at a dry campground. Then we headed back to US 89, first a bit north into Utah and then west to the town of Kanab. By the time we got there, we realized we were both battling a cold. Either that or we’re allergic to deserts.


Kanab, Utah, has the nickname Little Hollywood 
because so many western movies and tv shows
were filmed there over the years

So we decided to stop, not continue on to Bryce Canyon, which was our original destination for the day because it was a bit cooler than at Zion. And we once again went the motel route, because we both felt pretty rotten, it was very hot, and we just wanted to feel better. Turns out Kanab is a nice little town, though we didn’t see much of it because we mostly rested in the motel room. But I walked down the street to the Kanab Drug Store and Soda Fountain to get cold-fighting medications, and when it cooled down in the evening, I took a walk through town, which was once known as “Little Hollywood” because so many westerns were filmed in the area. There are sign boards here and there along the streets with photos and names of actors who were in many of the shows that were filmed here, from Wagon Train and High Chapparal to How the West Was Won, Death Valley Days, and even some episodes of Gunsmoke.


The set for the tv show Gunsmoke was in a
canyon near Kanab, Utah, for many years

The set for Gunsmoke was nearby in Johnson Canyon, and though it was on private property, it apparently caused traffic backups from people driving by to see it. The show stopped production 50 years ago, and the set deteriorated until it was torn down a few years ago, so there’s nothing to see any more, but I did find a photo of it on the Base Camp Kanab website. There are still other sets from western movies and TV shows in Kanab Canyon and the ghost town of Paria, which we passed on our way to town.

Kanab means “place of the willows” in Paiute, which means there was always water here, making it an oasis in the red rock desert. Mormons established it as a town in 1870, under the direction of Brigham Young. It has lots of motels and restaurants and coffeehouses and gas stations, all of which are probably pretty crowded in the summertime, because it is a short drive from several national parks and other sights to see. But it was laid back while we were there, even though (or maybe because) it was hot as blazes. We felt a little better after two days and decided to try traveling again, though not too far.


Red Rock Mesa overlooking Kanab

We’ll head to Bryce Canyon, where the daytime highs are in the mid 80s and the overnight lows in the mid 50s. Zion National Park is still having very high temperatures, and we’re just not up for that. It looks like that park is going to have to go back on the “we’ll see that some other time” list.

Comments

  1. AmyMay 19, 2026 at 10:22 AM

    How cool. I didn't know any of that about that town. You learn so much on the road. Very cool. Glad you are feeling better.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Waterways and Wetlands of Western Ohio

  Though we are still not technically on the road for awhile, it’s spring in the Midwest and we are occasionally getting out to see some sites nearby. Last week we had a sunny, warm day that followed many days of rain, so we decided to head out somewhere to hike where there were boardwalks—or at least solid rock paths. We started at Charleston Falls, near Tipp City. The preserve was far more crowded than usual; the warm weather after a long winter apparently brought out the crowds, especially homeschooled kids and their families. We took the path less traveled back through prairie meadows (only slightly mushy) to the top of the falls, then wandered down the stone paths to the bottom of the falls. There was water going over the falls, though not a lot. The falls are fed by small underground springs several miles to the east, and the stream creating the falls plummets almost 40' as it flows to the Great Miami River, one mile to the west.  Charleston Falls Preserve in western O...
Post a Comment
Read more

Living with the Chill, Waiting for the Warm Up

 The Coastal Bend area of the Texas Coast is known as a birder’s paradise, and we have seen some pretty cool specimens, up close, including roseate spoonbills and brown pelicans and willets. This heron believes that he owns the wharf down at the harbor park in Port Aransas. He clearly is accustomed to posing for photos. Harry the Heron surveys his domain There’s also a tower to climb at the harbor park, giving you a good view of the waterway called Aransas Pass, where the ferry crosses to the mainland, and some of the huge ships that go through the pass. We often see dolphins in the water up there, but they are very tricky to photograph. The circle on the photo below shows a dolphin fin just popping up out of the water. This one stayed for quite awhile until we left to get a seafood dinner at Grumbles on the other side of the harbor. After dinner we drove around to the University of Texas maritime research facility and then past that, to the beach road which is amazingly well maint...
1 comment
Read more

Good Day, Sunshine!

  Winter’s over in South Texas, I’m happy to say. The air temperatures are back in the 70s during the day, and the semitropical sun makes it plenty warm enough for shorts and t-shirts. When the sun goes down, it does get cool quickly, but still only into the 60s. We can live with that. On Tuesdays there is Bingo up at the community tent at On the Beach RV Park. Occasionally I attend; the admission is a $5 lottery ticket, and the tickets serve as the prizes for folks who win Bingo games. That is never me. If there were a prize for the Bingo card with the most spaces still uncovered after someone shouts “Bingo!”, I would win that every time. They do jazz it up with side bets, but you actually have to get a Bingo to win those, too. Along with my lack of luck, when I do go up to a Bingo night, I recall just how numbingly boring Bingo is. I could bring a book and still keep track of the numbers called (since so few of them are on my card). All to say that they do a lot of fun things a...
3 comments
Read more