Some of the Places We Have Been So Far on This Trip Part 2
We’ve passed through centrally located Kanab a few times while crisscrossing the same couple of square inches on the map of Southeast Utah.
Here of some highlights of the area, not as well known as the National Parks.
Red Hollow Slot Canyon, Orderville
This place is still under the public radar and a little hard to find, so we had this short slot canyon almost to ourselves.
Belly of Dragon, Mt Carmel Junction
This tunnel was excavated as a culvert under Route 89 in the 1950’s and the soft sandstone was eroded by flood water into its current shape over the years. Recently a photo of it went viral and it has become very popular. There is a huge parking lot just outside, but no gift shop. So far.
Still, a very cool place that was fun to visit.
Sand Caves, Kanab
An unmarked, very sketchy hike and climb takes you to this unusual place.
These man-made caves were mined for in the 1970’s. The sand was used for glass making. Not sure why they stopped mining. Maybe they were able to get cheaper sand from China? Maybe everything is made from plastic now?
The natural colors and patterns in the sandstone are like nothing I have seen before.
It was harder going down than coming up.
No gift shop, but it is next door to the “The Moqui Cave", Tourist Trap par excellence, whose gift shop was larger than its exhibit space.
The Moqui Cave
The Moqui Cave, self-proclaimed “Ancient History Museum, 150 Million Years in the Making”, has some local history exhibits, Native American artifacts, and dinosaur footprints.
The Moqui Cave was originally opened as a bar to serve the Hollywood actors who were in the area to film a ton of Westerns.
But my favorite exhibit was the photos of Thomas Chamberlain and his 6 wives and 55 children (taken sometime before 1918).
Although the gift shop is huge, they do have an excellent selection and variety of reasonably priced rocks for sale. Also, a café.
Check it out just for the air conditioning. And to add to your rock collection.
