Should you ever find yourself on highway 89, either coming south from visiting Zion or Bryce Canyon National parks on your way to Kanab and beyond, you should make a short stop at the Sand Caves (google maps link). Not to be confused with the very strange and mostly gift shop just up the road at the Moqui Cave, we stopped there as well but that was just a tourist trap we felt.

There is a big parking space just south of the cave, you can see it easily,it is well marked and has plenty of space for cars and RVs. The walk from the parking and up to the cave is marked and mostly follows a dried up creek bed, or you can hug the canyon wall all the way. Bring water and sturdy walking shoes, we would not recommend this walk on sandals or flip flops.

The walk up the valley is very nice, the road is close by but that did not bother us. There are some petroglyphs on the rock wall on the way with small plaques explaining what they are.

After a 15 minute walk you will get the cave mouths overhead but you have to continue a bit more up the valley to get the correct entry point up the rock face. Be warned that it is a bit slippery, it is somewhat difficult to find the right way to navigate the steep rock face towards the cave entrance. We used common sense and a bit of trial and error before we could find the best route across. There are no stairs, fences or signs here, only common sense applies.

When you arrive at the cave it is well worth the climb. Inside it is cool and there are several openings out towards the valley but beware NO fences will prevent a fall to the valley floor, so if you bring kids, hold them by the hand. The colours of the sandstone rock is amazing and it feels very special indeed to walk in the small cave system. Your mind imagining the cowboys hiding here from the sheriff or the native tribes using this as a camp while trekking through the area.

To break the illusion of cowboys hiding out, these caves were made during the 1930s and 40s, the sand from the caves was mined to make moulds to cast iron and it was also harvested to make bulletproof glass.

We would recommend stopping, the hike is fairly easy and the caves are totally free to visit, a rare thing these days.