The permit hike Kanarraville
Since 1 May 2018, and the town means it
Kanarra Falls permits, the system, not just the price.
A permit is required for every hiker at Kanarra Falls, bought online in advance, with no walk-in office anywhere in town. Here is how the system actually works, why it exists, and the honest window to book ahead in.
By Scott Buehler, Southern Utah local
Updated September 2026
Start here
One ticket, bought ahead, and no walk-in office.
Yes, Kanarra Falls requires a permit, and you buy it online in advance at kanarrafalls.com, not at a walk-in office in town. A modest per person fee applies, the town caps how many people can go each day, and in summer the popular dates sell out a week or two ahead, so the honest move is to reserve before you drive.
The permit doubles as your parking pass. There is a designated trailhead lot in Kanarraville that is free once you hold a ticket, and the town takes card or debit only, no cash and no refunds. A few same day tickets sometimes turn up at the trailhead kiosk, but only whatever the online system has not already sold, and on a warm summer weekend that is often nothing by mid morning.
Two rules catch more people off guard than the price. Dogs are not allowed, because Kanarra Creek is Kanarraville's drinking water, and the canyon is a narrow slot where flash floods are a real hazard in the monsoon months. Both are worth planning around, and both are covered below.
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Why this exists
45,000 people, one canyon, and no cap at all.
The permit system did not appear out of caution. It appeared because the canyon was being overrun. Word of mouth and social media pushed Kanarra Falls from a local secret into a widely shared destination, and by 2017 an estimated 45,000 people hiked the canyon in a single year with no fee, no reservation and no cap of any kind, on land that was never simply open public ground.
That land belongs to the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands, a state agency that leases and manages property to help fund Utah's public schools, and the Town of Kanarraville operates the hike under a lease agreement with SITLA. Uncapped visitation was straining both the canyon itself and the small town whose streets absorbed the overflow parking, so on 1 May 2018 the Town, Iron County government and SITLA moved the public onto the ticketed system that still governs the hike today.
That history matters for how you should treat the permit itself. It is not a park entrance fee in the ordinary sense; it is a working land management tool on a lease, and the town has said plainly that trespassing beyond the marked stopping point at the final waterfall will be prosecuted.
The canyon is not simply public land with a fee attached. It sits on Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands, leased and managed by the Town of Kanarraville. Respect the marked stopping point at the final waterfall; the land beyond it is off limits to the public entirely.
Booking it
One site, and one honest window to plan around.
kanarrafalls.com is the only official source for tickets, and it is worth bookmarking rather than relying on a third party booking page or an old trip report for current pricing. Tickets are sold by date rather than by a specific entry time, and once the day's cap is reached online sales close for that date.
In the shoulder months, late winter and early spring before runoff, and again in late fall, tickets are generally easier to find close to a trip. In the peak window, roughly mid spring through early fall, popular weekend dates have been known to sell out one to two weeks ahead, so book earlier than you think you need to if a specific weekend matters.
Groups matter here too. Commercial and larger group bookings run through a separate, higher priced process than the standard general admission ticket, so a guided trip or an organized outing should confirm its own arrangement directly with the town or its booking system rather than assuming the individual rate applies.
A permit here is not a formality. It is the reason this canyon is still in good enough shape to be worth visiting at all.
Getting there
The trailhead, the drive, and where to park.
Kanarraville sits just off I-15 about fifteen minutes south of Cedar City, and the trailhead is at the east edge of town where the pavement gives way to the canyon road. The parking is the part people get wrong. There is one designated lot at the trailhead, it is free once you hold a permit, and it is not large, which is a big part of why the daily cap exists at all.
When the lot fills, the answer is not to squeeze onto the residential streets below it. Kanarraville is a town of a few hundred people whose streets were never built to absorb a canyon's worth of visitors, and parking where you should not is the fastest way to sour a place that has been generous about sharing its backyard. If a date is sold out online, it is sold out on the ground too; there is no overflow to find.
Before you go
Water shoes, no dogs, and a canyon that floods.
This is a water hike, not a stroll to an overlook. You spend much of it walking in Kanarra Creek, usually in water under a foot deep, over rounded and slick rock, and at the first big waterfall you climb a ladder at the main waterfall to keep going up the canyon. Shoes you do not mind soaking, with real grip, make the whole thing better; sandals and smooth soles do not. Peak operation runs April through October, with a limited winter setup the rest of the year, and the creek runs highest and coldest during spring runoff.
Leave the dog at home. Pets are not allowed on the hike, and the reason is simple and worth respecting: Kanarra Creek is Kanarraville's drinking water, so what goes in the creek ends up in the town's taps. The town marks a stopping point at the last accessible waterfall, and the ground beyond it is off limits to the public, with unofficial ropes and ladders you should not trust. It is also a genuinely hard place for search and rescue to reach.
A narrow slot canyon floods fast. Kanarra Creek runs through tight rock walls, and a flash flood can happen any time of year but is most likely July through September in monsoon season. A storm miles away, over ground you cannot see, is enough. Do not enter the canyon if it is raining or if heavy rain is anywhere in the forecast; in a slot there is nowhere to climb to. Check the weather the morning you go, not the week before.
Scott Buehler
Moving Utah About Scott
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Read the pageQuick answers
Permits, answered.
A permit runs about 15 dollars a person for general admission as of 2026, with young children free but still counted on the booking, and larger commercial or guided groups on a separate, higher rate. Prices change, so treat that figure as a snapshot and confirm the current fee at kanarrafalls.com. The town takes card or debit only, no cash, and permits are non-refundable.
Online at kanarrafalls.com, the town's official booking site. There is no walk-in permit office in Kanarraville. A few same-day tickets sometimes turn up at the trailhead kiosk, but only whatever the online system has not already sold for that date, which on a summer weekend can be nothing by mid morning.
The town's own published figure caps general admission at around 200 tickets a day. That number has been set at different levels over the life of the permit program, so confirm the current cap directly at kanarrafalls.com rather than treating any single figure as permanent.
In the busy stretch, roughly April through October, popular weekend dates can sell out one to two weeks ahead, so booking at least a week out is the safer plan if a specific date matters. In the quieter shoulder months, tickets are generally easier to find closer to your trip.
Yes, and it does not cost extra. There is one designated trailhead lot in Kanarraville that is free once you hold a permit. It is not large, which is part of why the daily cap exists, and there is no real overflow, so if a date is sold out online it is effectively full on the ground. Please do not park on the town's residential streets.
No. Dogs and other pets are not allowed on the Kanarra Falls hike. Kanarra Creek is Kanarraville's drinking water, and keeping animals out of it protects the town's supply, so this is one hike to leave your dog at home for.
It is a moderate to strenuous water hike with slick rock, a ladder at the main waterfall, and creek crossings, so decent footing and water shoes matter. The bigger concern is flash flooding: the canyon is a narrow slot, and floods are most likely July through September in monsoon season. Do not enter if it is raining or if heavy rain is anywhere in the forecast, and stop at the marked point past the last waterfall, since the ground beyond it is off limits and hard to reach if something goes wrong.
Before 2018 the canyon had no cap, and an estimated 45,000 people hiked it in 2017 alone, straining both the trail and the small town at the trailhead. On 1 May 2018 the Town of Kanarraville, Iron County and the landowner, the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands, moved the public onto tickets. The town runs the hike under a lease with that state trust lands agency, which is why a town, not a park service, sets and enforces the rules.
Spring Creek, a separate canyon about a mile south of town, has no permit and no fee. It is a shorter, rougher hike rather than a free version of Kanarra Falls, and it is covered on the companion Kanarra Creek Canyon page.
A tiny market next to one of the state's most managed hikes.
Kanarraville's permit system says something real about how the town protects what it has, and that same protectiveness shows up in how slowly its housing stock turns over. I track what has actually closed here, not a portal's guess, and that matters in a market this small.
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