Kanab ranked high by magazine for outdoors enthusiasts

NEW YORK — Kanab has placed fifth in Outdoor Life magazine's annual "Top 20 towns for Sportsmen" rankings.

Six other Utah towns — Richfield (39th), Vernal (51st), Logan (52nd), Heber City (54th), Cedar City (56th) and Price (195th) — also made the top 200 among America's best-rated outdoor cities.

The magazine used extensive data to score 200 towns on their sporting opportunities and quality-of-life issues for its third annual ranking.

Rapid City, S.D., with a population of 65,491, took top honors on the magazine's list.

Rounding out the top 10 were Pocatello; Page, Ariz.; Lewiston, Idaho; Kanab; Bend, Ore.; Mountain Home, Ark.; Saratoga, Wyo.; Rawlins, Wyo.; and Pierre, S.D.

"Outdoorsmen want world-class hunting and fishing, but like everyone else, they also want to have a high quality of life," said John Taranto, senior editor of Outdoor Life. "The towns on this list offer the best of the outdoors as well as decent homes and schools and good-paying jobs. They are truly dream towns for sportsmen."

Kanab was noted in the magazine as "Little Hollywood," "because the town and its surrounding area were used as the set in many classic Westerns, including 'Stagecoach' and 'The Outlaw Josey Wales.' Those visually stunning canyons and buttes that once played host to John Wayne and Clint Eastwood are home to robust populations of elk, mule deer, antelope, black bears, turkeys, bobcats and mountain lions. Meanwhile, anglers enjoy backcountry trout fishing in the surrounding picturesque mountain streams and lakes."

For detailed rankings, including all 200 towns, visit OutdoorLife.com/besttowns.

— Lynn Arave