Kanab Tour Company, Utah

Join host Jared Christie, Polaris Adventures Market Development Manager, for a trip to Kanab, Utah and "The Heart of the Parks." Spectacular rides and unmatched scenery, Kanab is surrounded by America's scenic wonders.  

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Welcome to the Flair Adventures Podcast. I'm your host here Christy. Location, location, location. You hear it all the time. Location makes a difference. Adventures has 250 outfitters all over the country. But my guest on today's show might have the best spot of them all. If you don't know the town of Canab, Utah, you're about to find out what makes this place one of the best towns to launch your next adventure. Just short drives from Canab are the north rim of the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon National Park, Zion National Park. Did I mention national parks? And that's just the start. We're going to talk about all those places and a host of other amazing spots. Please welcome to the show Tiffany Unsworth, owner of Canab Tour Company. Tiffany, how are you?

SPEAKER_01 1:10

I am doing so great. I'm thrilled to be talking with you today, Jared. Thank you so much. And I completely agree. We have the best location ever.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Isn't it nice to see that?

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Yes, and I'm being purely objective here. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Tiffany, I've been fortunate enough to travel all over the country, and honestly, it is hard to beat Canab and all the great places to visit close to town. Just the number of national parks nearby is almost overwhelming.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

I agree. We are called Heart of the Parks for a reason. We're located right in the heart of Bryce, Zion, the north rim of the Grand Canyon, Lake Powell National Recreation Area. It's just stunning. Any direction you go, you find a beautiful park.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

How did I forget Lake Powell to that list?

SPEAKER_01 2:06

There are so many. We are at the very southern part of Utah. We're just five miles from the Arizona border. And our closest international airport is actually Las Vegas. You would think Salt Lake being in Utah, but Vegas is just three and a half hours drive from Canab. So we're in the south.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

And if I were to fly into Vegas and I drive to you guys, what am I going to pass along the way?

SPEAKER_01 2:47

So I'm not going to lie, the first part of the journey isn't stellar, but once you get closer to Utah, then it starts getting beautiful. You do pass through Mesquite, Nevada, and then you'll pass through St. George, Utah, Colorado City, and you'll be right there by Zion National Park. You can actually come through Zion to get to Canab if you choose.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

I have done that. I have done that, and that is really you're right. Kind of once you hit that mesquite area, you start to feel at the changes. You can sort of see them as you get close to Utah.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

Yes. It is worth the drive.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

Yes. 100%. Now, what's the town of Canab like?

SPEAKER_01 3:30

So Canab is uh definitely a tourism-centric area, and reasonably so. We are surrounded by this gorgeous red rock rim. It's very cozy. The population of residents is about 5,000, and so it feels very hometown America. But we have plenty of great restaurants, great hotels for people to come and stay, wonderful vacation rentals are here, beautiful facilities, parks, trail systems. It's it's heavenly, honestly. It's fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Now, if I go to the Kanab Tour Company website, it lists so many great options for things to do there. I'm not even sure where to begin.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

I know there are so many choices. We have any anything from a two-hour tour to a 10-hour tour. And if you want to come for multiple days, we could keep you busy for several days here. And it's really cool because not only do we have the national parks that are obviously highly frequented by millions of visitors a year, we also have these backcountry gems that you can only access via four-wheel drive. And so, of course, the Polaris Razors are the way to take people there. We have so much fun getting to these local gyms.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

Alright, so lots of opportunities. What is your most popular ride?

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Our most popular ride would be to go to the Peekaboo Slot Canyon. And if you're not familiar with what a slot canyon is, it is like a hallway of sandstone. We have this beautiful vermilion red colored sandstone here. And fortunately, Peekaboo Slot Canyon is very quaint. Um, it is not as frequented as Antelope Slot Canyon, for example, that you would find in Page. Um, but it has the same character, the same opportunity for photography. It's a great spot for any level of mobility. You can walk through it easily, and we will drive you right there, or you'll drive yourself right to the mouth of the slot canyon. So it's stunning.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Describe for me the drive out to the slot canyon from your place. And some slot canyons you can actually drive into, but this isn't one of them.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

That's correct. So we give our guests options. You can either take off right from our office in Canab and drive over the red rim. You can get up on some great overlooks, and there's some beautiful things to see all along the way: some red pinnacles, some petroglyphs, and then you'll be riding on sand trail. There are some technical parts too. There's some rock climbing that's fun for those who are interested in that. And then there are some sand dunes. It's a beautiful pink sand that you will drive over to get to the slot canyon. So definitely not something you want to take your all-wheel drive or your Priya out to try and find. You've got to have the right equipment.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

Once I get to the slot canyon and I walk down inside, I'm curious, is there a better time to go? Because sometimes when I see photos of these slot canyons, when the light hits them right, it's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

That's a great question. The slot canyon is beautiful, morning, midday, or afternoon. The light will come into the canyon in different places in different ways, depending on when you're visiting. If you want those strong light beams to come through, generally midday is the time to do that. But we find that you there's magic in the canyon no matter when you're there. And so we will go uh at 9 a.m., we'll go midday, and then we'll take an afternoon ride that is um heading towards sunset, and people find that it's beautiful anytime.

SPEAKER_00 7:54

So the slot canyon is is one ride, but then not far away, you've got this other sort of larger canyon in your backyard as well.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

That's correct. Yes, it's a beautiful big hole in the ground. The Grand Canyon is very close to us. Um, if you were to visit the actual park, it would take you about an hour and 40 minutes to drive there and go and see the overlooks. But we like to take the backcountry ride. We like to go through the National Forest on razors, and we will take you out to viewpoints. There are several viewpoints that are remote where you can have your own private experience with the Grand Canyon without the crowds. And the North Rim, I feel is the most stunning because it is remote, it's higher elevation, and so it has cooler temperatures. Visitation time is generally longer there. I don't know if you've been to the South Rim, it's it's about a half hour that generally people will get out, enjoy the canyon, and get back in their cars and go. But the North Rim can be a very immersive experience. There are a lot of fun trails to access there that our guides know.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Tiffany, explain that feeling or the difference between going into the national park with tons and tons of other people or just having that time with a small group.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Yes, there is such a contrast there. And honestly, I love being in the parks. Um there's a reason they're highly visited, but if you can go with someone who knows the backcountry, you are in for a real treat. We actually had an amazing experience a few years ago. There was a gentleman who grew up back east, always in the city, and his mobility was severely limited. He was always in a wheelchair, and so his whole life he was surrounded by the noise of the city and honking and public transportation. And he and his wife came and visited Kanab, and my husband Corey took him out on a ride to one of these backcountry areas. It was our East Zion tour, where it's it's like being in Zion National Park, so it's in the backcountry. And they got to an overlook, they were the only people in this spot, and they turned off the vehicles, and this man said, What is this? I've never experienced this much silence before, and it was an incredible moment, not only for them, but for my husband as well, to see you can really have these deep connections with the land if given the opportunity, and if you allow yourself to take the time and find the access to these spots. So I highly recommend if you can get to a backcountry bryce tour with us. Bryce Canyon has some beautiful areas that you can only access with these kind of vehicles, or Zion, or the North Rim. Um, it's very special.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

What a great story. And I feel like you're also stealing my job here because the next question I was going to ask you was this backcountry Bryce Canyon ride, because uh that's I'm interested in that. I haven't done something like that before.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

Yeah, it's something we just actually have started in the last couple of years. Our guides said we want to bring guests somewhere that most of the population doesn't get to go. And so they pioneered um these tours, and we love to give our guides latitude there. Help us find the sweet spots. And so um they designed this uh area just up above Bryce, it's actually another national forest area that we have permits to guide in, and you'll find the same beautiful technicolor orange limestone hoodoos that you find in the park, but you're just in a small group in a few vehicles, so it's fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

Then, of course, if you've been to Utah or you're familiar with Utah, you know about Arches National Park, but you don't have to go to Arches National Park to find arches in Utah.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

That's absolutely true. We have some very quaint, wonderful arches here. One we love to take people to is called Inchworm Arch, and it's named appropriately. It looks just like an inchworm moving along. Um, but it is large, it is worth the trip going out to see, and again, it's something that most people don't see. It's a white arch that has a lot of character, and if you spend a few hours with us, we can get you there and show you other things around that area as well.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

How fun is that?

SPEAKER_01 13:21

So fun.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

Now, one of the ones that you mentioned to me that I thought was really interesting was a white pocket ride because you feel like you're on Mars.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

Absolutely. Yes. We have so many people now who are interested in living on Mars, right? Well, you don't need to fly into outer food, much cheaper option.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

Listen up.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

Yes, better food options, yes, oxygen, so many good things. So White Pocket is an all-day ride that our guests really enjoy, and it is located in the vermilion uh Perea wilderness area, and you can go out and explore this white and red swirling sandstone that is unlike anything in the rest of the world. And you walk over white hexagonal rock, and these unique pockets are formed in the white sandstone that actually holds water. That's why it's called white pocket. If you can be there after a rain, it's especially lovely with the reflecting pools all around you. But any time you can visit is really cool.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

Gosh, slot canyons, grand canyons, arches. Do you have a favorite ride that you personally like to do?

SPEAKER_01 14:47

Personally, I love the East Zion ride. You descend down into this canyon. There are cool petroglyphs you can find. There's actually a saber sword that is carved into some rock that was left there by the Native Americans. Our guides could show you that. And there's a creek that runs through. There's a little mini slot canyon. There are trees that light the place up. It's just a stunning special ride.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

Now, are the rides that you guys do, are these guided or unguided?

SPEAKER_01 15:28

We do both. So um you can take a guide with you and you can follow behind them. You can drive your own machine, or if you feel more comfortable allowing the guide to drive, you can hop in with them and they can teach you about the area and you can take photos. Um, or we do rent machines out to those who want to be more independent. And we offer four-hour, eight-hour, twenty-four-hour rentals, and we can help you get to some beautiful spots right around Canam.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

With so many options and a lot of them being backcountry, is there an advantage to the guided?

SPEAKER_01 16:07

I feel the advantage to a guided tour is they can help you make the most of your time. You won't get lost. Uh, if you have any technical issues, they'll be right there to help you. And our guides are the best at what they do in this area. We have very um loyal guides. They've been with us some of us, uh, some of them have been with us almost a decade, and they absolutely love teaching people about the natural history, about the biology you find here, about the flora and fauna and the rocks, everything. They love doing what they do, and they love helping people have a great time. And so if you're on the fence, I would lean toward a guided experience. Yeah, it's cost effective. Uh, we don't charge a a hold on the card, you know, like we do if you rent a vehicle. So it's it's not stressful at all. It's just fun. Not that renting is stressful, but you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

I understand. Now, based on where you guys are at, I gotta imagine you get visitors from all over the world.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

We do. It's one of the best parts of our job. I feel like we get to meet the world just by staying in this place. We get visitors from every continent and they are so stunned when they see our unique landscape. It brings us a lot of joy.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

When did you guys start Canab Tour Company?

SPEAKER_01 17:44

We started it in 2014.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

And is that when you uh came to Canab? Have you been in Canab for a while? What made you sort of want to start it there?

SPEAKER_01 17:56

So we were ready for a change in our life, and the owners who lived here in Kenab of a previous tour company listed their business for sale online. And uh Corey's dad actually found the listing and reached out to us and said, Is this something you might be interested in? And we said, Absolutely. And as soon as I drove into Kenab for the first time to investigate this opportunity, I felt at home and I knew this is what we were going to do. The people here are so friendly, and it just feels like home. So we felt so fortunate to get this opportunity. We love people and we love the outdoors, and so it's a perfect chance for us to mix those two loves together.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

For sure. Now, what year did you guys join Adventures?

SPEAKER_01 18:54

That was in 2020. So, right when the pandemic was hitting, when everyone was so nervous about what was ahead. Um, we jumped in with Adventures and we never looked back. They've been such a great partner. They always provide the highest quality equipment, they keep it rotated for us. We're always driving new vehicles, which is so amazing. Before this, we would buy vehicles and sell them, and we couldn't keep up with that high quality that's offered through Polaris. So we're we're very grateful to be partners.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

Was that one of the main reasons why?

SPEAKER_01 19:34

Um, it was one of them, and also we love Razors. It's a wonderful national brand, and they've been around so long, their track record is so good. Um, they take care of the families who ride their machines by keeping them safe and helping them enjoy things they couldn't otherwise.

SPEAKER_00 19:57

Well, Tiffany, I've always said Utah is one of my favorite places to ride, and certainly Canab is probably right at the top of the list.

unknown 20:07

Excellent.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

Tiffany, thanks so much for being on the show. Personally, I can't wait to get back, revisit Canab and all those amazing places you talked about.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

We would love to have you here anytime, Jerry. Thank you for the phone call.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

Be sure to like and follow the Polaris Adventures podcast wherever you listen to your podcast, and we will talk to you again soon. Remember, you belong out here.