Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => Landscape Photography Locations => Topic started by: markadams99 on December 22, 2012, 02:18:39 pm

Title: Kanab, Utah, in winter
Post by: markadams99 on December 22, 2012, 02:18:39 pm
In a few days I'll be in Kanab with an SUV for a week. I have a decent guide to the area (http://www.amazon.com/Favorite-Hikes-Around-Zion-National/dp/1892540827/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1356203529&sr=8-4&keywords=around+zion), but would welcome any photogenic recommendations. I'm happy to hike and scramble. Thinking Skutumpah Rd, Cottonwood Canyon Rd, Coral Sands, Paria Canyon. Prefer locales that don't need permit. By the way is there a viewpoint of The Wave that doesn't need a permit to get to?
Title: Re: Kanab, Utah, in winter
Post by: azmike on December 22, 2012, 03:46:30 pm
To your questions in reverse:

View of the Wave without a permit?   No.  The Wave is a relatively small feature at the end of a 3 mile hike.  It's in the "North Coyote Buttes" which needs a permit.  Advance permits for the North Coyote Buttes are by lottery with very slim odds.  However, there are 10 walk-in permits available via drawing each day at the BLM visitor center in Kanab.  It's all detailed in their website:

http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/arolrsmain/paria/coyote_buttes/permits.html

In off-season (i.e. winter) you should have a pretty good chance for drawing a walk-in permit. Especially the Friday drawing. But I'd suggest you consider South Coyote Buttes (instead of, or in addition to the North).  The South takes some 4x4 driving (ask the BLM people about road conditons...especially House Rock Road);  will also need a permit (but these should be readily available);  the landscape is astonishing.....and you may be the only one there.  If you're skilled at 4x4 and good with remote navigation/survival skills, White Pocket currently does not require a permit.

Guidebooks?  Laurent Martres "Photographing the Southwest" are the best guides for photographers.  Paria Plateau is covered in detail.  Two volumes, one for Utah and one for Arizona.  You'll need both.

Mike Coffey
Prescott, Arizona
Title: Re: Kanab, Utah, in winter
Post by: markadams99 on December 22, 2012, 04:00:00 pm
That's great advice. Thanks. If there are any LumLanders around Kanab 12/27 - 1/4, feel free to contact me for coffee or worse. It looks cold.
Title: Re: Kanab, Utah, in winter
Post by: Scott O. on December 26, 2012, 12:42:48 pm
BLM in Kanab is probably the best place to start. It is on the east side of town across from the cemetary. Be sure to check on Cottonwood Canyon as it has been closed most of the time since September. I had heard that it was to be closed in December but hopefully they are finished. It was destroyed in a monsoon flood.
Title: Re: Kanab, Utah, in winter
Post by: markadams99 on December 28, 2012, 12:47:57 pm
I went to The Wave lottery at the Kanab GSENM visitor's centre today, Friday. I don't absolutely lust after The Wave and went out of herd instinct as much as photophilia. There were 135 individuals (most within groups) for 10 slots per day for the next 3 days. The majority were Asians. It was crowded, hot and good-humored. I wasn't lucky, tho a lone individual does stand a better chance than an individual in a group since the latter slots for a day are often turned down by a group larger than the number of places left. Anyway these snaps may give a sense of the occasion:
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1594818/pix/TheWaveLottery/TheWaveLottery-1.jpg)
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1594818/pix/TheWaveLottery/TheWaveLottery-2.jpg)
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1594818/pix/TheWaveLottery/TheWaveLottery-3.jpg)
Title: Re: Kanab, Utah, in winter
Post by: francois on December 28, 2012, 01:58:44 pm
I went to The Wave lottery at the Kanab GSENM visitor's centre today, Friday. I don't absolutely lust after The Wave and went out of herd instinct as much as photophilia. There were 135 individuals (most within groups) for 10 slots per day for the next 3 days. The majority were Asians. It was crowded, hot and good-humored. I wasn't lucky, tho a lone individual does stand a better chance than an individual in a group since the latter slots for a day are often turned down by a group larger than the number of places left. Anyway these snaps may give a sense of the occasion:

Thanks for reporting, Mark. I see that the situation hasn't improved for the Wave lottery…
Title: Re: Kanab, Utah, in winter
Post by: Frank Sirona on January 02, 2013, 04:45:29 pm
Cottonwood Canyon Road is great, but stay away from any of these unpaved roads when wet (including when snow is melting during the day) - otherwise you might return without your car, even when it´s a 4WD.
Title: Re: Kanab, Utah, in winter
Post by: markadams99 on January 04, 2013, 03:16:46 am
Cottonwood Canyon Road is great, but stay away from any of these unpaved roads when wet (including when snow is melting during the day) - otherwise you might return without your car, even when it´s a 4WD.
Yes. I turned back from reaching the trailhead for Cobra Arch at a wash in Long Canyon Road which had been trampled by cattle.

Accessible tho were:

1. Paria Movie Set - great views, not spoiled at all, lovely hiking nearby to the west, but don't get lost in the arroyos.
2. Wire Pass - narrow, atmospheric, but easy slot canyon. Also accesses Buckskin Gulch.
3. Lick Wash - down the Skutumpah road, which is snow-plowed that far up across private land, but not all the way thru to Willis Creek and Cannonville. Note nice glimpses of Bryce Canyon cliffs to the north as you drive along.

Btw I'm happy to plug this house in Kanab which I rented: http://www.vrbo.com/365794 .
Also note there's a late-opening liquor store a few minutes south of Kanab just across the UT/AZ border. Reminds me of driving to Anglesey to get a drink in N.Wales on a Sunday in the 1970's.