2015 - Charleston's Trailer Tripping

Kanab started out as Fort Kanab in 1864 for defense against American Indians. Indian attacks forced it to be abandoned in 1866. In 1870 a group of Mormon missionaries reoccupied it and founded the town of Kanab. Today it has a population of 3,564. It is located near Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks. However, we have already visited Bryce and we will be visiting Zion later on in this trip. We will be staying in Kanab for three nights.

Our purpose for our stay in Kanab is to visit BEST FRIENDS ANIMAL SANCTUARY. Best Friends was founded in 1984 by a group of dedicated animal lovers who wanted to save them all. Today it is a national animal welfare organization focused on ending the killing of dogs and cats in America’s shelters. It is the largest no-kill sanctuary for companion animals as well as lifesaving programs in partnership with rescue groups and shelters across the country. It has helped reduce the number of animals killed in shelters nationwide from 17 million per year to about four million. Today their motto is “SAVE THEM ALL”.

May 5 – 7: We are staying at Kanab RV Corral. This was not a comfortable RV park to stay in. The owners checked you in. The husband was friendly enough, but the wife was unfriendly and suspicious. Our site was a weird shape. It was a long back-in with a narrow empty space next to us. And next to that empty space was two back-in sites that faced that narrow space. We were told that if they are out of room, they assigned a trailer there. That would block everyone. Very weird. That did not happen, but it made for an uncomfortable stay. There was also a lot of street noise. The RV park was between a business street and a residential street. There was traffic all day and during the night. We will not be staying here again.

BEST FRIENDS ANIMAL SANCTUARY

Best Friends sits on 3 thousand acres of breathtaking landscapes in Angel Canyon. It is home to around 1,700 animals; cats, dogs, horses, pigs, birds, bunnies, and parrots. The animals receive love, attention, expert medical care, training, and most important a second chance of finding their forever home. Most of the animals are rescued from hoarding situations, natural disasters and special situations. For instance they took about 15 of Michael Vick’s fighting dogs. People with unwanted pets are given advice on how to continue to keep their pets or they are directed to Best Friends partnership shelters and rescue groups.

Visitor Center

We visited the Sanctuary and did four of their tours. On the first day in the afternoon we did a two hour tour of the whole sanctuary. We visited Benton's House in Cat World. Saw a puppy training session in Dog Town, and we drove through Angel Canyon viewing the horse corrals, pig pens, bunny house and Parrot Garden. Drove by Angels Rest; a huge pet cemetery where the sanctuary animals are buried as well as the public’s pets. Angel Canyon is beautiful with many red rock formations.

The Kanab Movie Ranch was located here before it became Best Friends. Several movies and TV shows were filmed here; The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Apple Dumpling Gang, Gunsmoke, The Lone Ranger (TV), Death Valley Days, Wagon Train to name a few.

Scene in many movies h

h The building up on hill is the Café in Angel’s Village

3 sides of this corral are cliff walls.

hThis barn was in a Disney movie. Probably the Apple Dumpling Gang.

Swayback horse

ANGEL'S REST is a fascinating and peaceful place to honor your deceased pets. Pet owners who visit their pets place polished stones and other trinkets on their pet’s stone. I was told that one volunteer painted large stones and placed one on every gravestone. There are thousands of gravestones in this place. There are several chime trees throughout the cemetery. There is always a breeze coming through here and as you walk around you hear the chimes play a magical and musical tune. It is so peaceful. What a wonderful place.

A volunteer created this gate.

Chime trees h

This must have been from a mass rescue. h

h Katrina’s losses i

There are several of these stone walls for urns of ashes.

On the second day we did a morning tour of DOG WORLD and we had time to tour the PARROT GARDEN before we had lunch in the Café at Angel Village.

A volunteer introducing us to one of the residents. h

The dog on the blue mat had no use in his back legs. A special made wheel chair had just arrived for his use.

There are 25+ of these octagon buildings in Dog World. h

More than one dog share a space (if they get along). Those panels above are sound proof so the barking cannot be heard outside. And above that are windows to let in natural light.

Each room has an outside dog run.

We learned a lot about parrots at the PARROT GARDEN. Many of the birds were rescued from owners who had no idea about caring for these demanding and high energy animals. Some can live to over 50 years, so this is not a novelty or fun pet to have. It is a big responsibility. Often these poor birds end up neglected and abused which cause these feathered friends many behavioral problems.

We ended the day with a nice $5 vegan buffet at Angel Village. There is a fantastic view of ANGEL CANYON from the café patio.

On our last day we toured CAT WORLD HEADQUARTERS. This is the intake area for all cats. They stay here for a period of time to watch for behavioral problems. Then they are sent out to the other ‘house’ depending on their needs. If there are behavioral problems, they stay at the headquarters and a specialist works with them. Some of the cats are allowed to roam free so at times we had to step over them as we toured the building. We could pet them, but were not allowed to pick them up.

Staff office. One of the cats made herself at home here.

Cat rooms line this hallway.

Nala greeting us.

Kitchen

We had visited BENTON'S HOUSE on our first day during the Sanctuary Tour. We had actually met, petted and played with the real Benton on our first visit at Best Friends 20 years ago. Benton's House had existed then and was the first octagon built at Best Friends. Benton's House houses special needs cats.

This poor kitty was scared and very shy. He did let me pet him.

Out next destination is the GRAND CANYON!

Scenic BIWAY 12

We traveled Utah State Route 12 from Torrey to Cannonville. It was a beautiful drive through rolling hills of white sandstone. We made one stop on this route to visit the Anasazi State Park Museum.

Looking back on the road we just traveled on.

Anasazi State Park Museum shows you what is left of an Anasazi Pueblo in A.D. 1160.

There was a food cart in the parking lot near this grassy field with picnic tables. It was run by a young couple with a baby. We shared a very good burrito. As we sat at the picnic table to eat it. This very friendly black lab kept bringing us small pine cones. He wanted us to toss it. We did and he would bring it back for some more tossing. Sometimes he would catch it in mid air. We think he might have belonged to the food cart couple or another group of people who had another dog. This lab never tired of catching the pine cones. But we finally tired of tossing it. It was a fun break on our drive to Cannonville.

CANNONVILLE

At one time Cannonville was called Gun Shot by it’s residents because the town was too small to qualify as a cannon. In 2013 it had a population of 162. Cannonville is one of several villages along State Route 12. We stayed here for four nights. We will be visiting BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK, CEDAR BREAKS NATIONAL MONUMENT and KODACHROME BASIN STATE PARK.

May 1 – 4^th: We stayed at the Cannonville KOA. This is a nice, comfortable RV park. We had nice views of surrounding sandstone formations. Our site was level and spacious and we had a good WiFi connection.

BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK

Bryce Canyon is not a true canyon, but a series of horseshoe shaped amphitheaters carved in the edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau by the Paria River. An Indian name for the area translates into “red rocks standing like men in a bowl-shaped canyon”. The park includes some of the most colorful rocks which have been sculpted by erosion into pillars called “hoodoos”.

Interesting story on how Bryce Canyon came to be.

h Ebenezer and Mary Bryce

Sunset Point – we did a very short hike on the Navajo Loop Trail.

Views from Sunset Point

That is the Queens Garden trail that connects to the Navajo Loop Trail. You can combine both to make a 2.9 mile loop.

We only had time for a very short hike on Navajo Loop.

The whole loop is 1.8 miles.

Hiking views

h Okay, this is where we turn back.

Me taking a break. It’s all uphill going back.

h Bryce Point – Elv 8300

Grottoes at Bryce Point

I call this formation “Dancing Turtles”. I see turtles standing up and dancing together. Use your imagination. h

h Inspiration Point- Elv 8100

h Pronghorn

h Ponderosa Point- Elv 8904

Swamp Canyon - Elv 7998 - Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrel

CEDAR BREAKS NATIONAL MONUMENT

Cedar Breaks is a 5-mile wide natural limestone amphitheater eroded to a depth of nearly 2,500 feet. Settles mistook the junipers at the base of the rock layers for cedars, thus the name. Unfortunately, as we climbed the mountain to Cedar Breaks it started raining which soon turned into sleet. Snow covered the ground when we reached the monument entrance and found the gate “closed for the season”. We did find a viewpoint before the entrance and got some pictures.

We decided to continue driving forward to Cedar City and find a place to have lunch.

h You drive through two rock tunnels. This is the second one.

hThis is looking back to the first tunnel.

h This is looking back trying to get both tunnels.

But the curve to the first one prevents you seeing it.

We stayed her long enough to eat lunch.

KODACHROME BASIN STATE PARK

This 2,240-acre park contains colorful, unusual rock formations that change colors (depending on the time of day and weather conditions) from gray and white to various shades of red. Before it was a state park, National Geographic named the area Kodachrome Flats after the name of Kodak’s color film when they took pictures of the area for the September 1949 issue of their magazine.