Being so close to the Old Spanish Trail while visiting Kanab, it was a no-brainer to go explore it and look for remnants. The Trail comes in toward Kanab from the East and can only speculate that the old 89 Hwy was built right on top of it. As it approaches Kanab it quickly turns South towards Fredonia and never makes it to Kanab. As you will see, the only way to intersect the Trail after it turns South while it somewhat still in Utah is to travel to Fredonia and turn on the road in front of the police station and hit the trail from the South. We eventually came to a locked gate which was on Arizona State Land. As far as we understood from our research, it is legal to on Arizona public lands. So we jumped the fence and took a hike leaving the truck behind to babysit that locked gate. We hiked along the road and eventually it was easy to see that we were in fact on the Old Spanish Trail! (Again as far we could tell from the maps and other geological features).
We had a great time figuring this all out. If you ever want to do this same trip, i encourage you to watch this video again and glean from it any information you can. You can also contact me directly by inserting your questions in the comments here. You can also send me an email at chanor@comcast.net FYI.....its getting harder and harder for me to remember to check that email. But i do about ever week.
Things to follow -up on from this video would be to contact the State of Arizona and find out why that gate is locked or if there is a way to gain access so you can drive right to the are where the trail is.
Don't forget to bring lots of water and if you haven't read about Heat Exhaustion or Heat Stroke, I strongly encourage you to do so. Recognizing the symptom early and early treatment can save your life or someone else's. The Northern Arizona Strip is so beautiful but its unforgiving.
Good luck in your own adventures. We would love to here about them.
