Canyonlands National Park – June 14 –18, 2018
We left early for Canyonlands, the final national park on our Utah circle of (five) national parks. It was about one-half hour from our campground (which was between Arches and Canyonlands) along another of Utah’s scenic highways.
Canyonlands is large (337,598 acres) and is divided into three districts: Island in the Sky, the Needles, and the Maze. Island in the Sky is the most popular district, followed by the Needles. The Maze is the least accessible – remote with very difficult roads which can be traveled only with 4x4s or off-road vehicles. The Colorado and Green Rivers, which wind through the heart of Canyonlands, separate the districts.
Although, as the crow flies, Island in the Sky is only twelve miles from the Needles, by car it is over two hours.
Island in the Sky mesa (an isolated flat-topped hill with steep sides and horizontal strata) rests on sheer sandstone cliffs, over 1,000 feet above the surrounding terrain. Once again, there was one road going through most of this section of the park with several overlooks of spectacular canyons and many trail heads. We chose two trails, labeled easy. The first was a one-mile round trip trail to Mesa Arch, which – in addition to being a beautiful arch – provided a stunning view towards the La Sal Mountains.
After driving to some of the other overlooks and viewpoints, we arrived at Grand View Point, a 2-mile round trip hike along the canyon’s edge, showcasing a spectacular panoramic view.
We returned to our campground, worn out, tired, and sweaty (well not sweaty because it’s too dry to sweat here), turned on the air conditioning in the van (though it was cooler today, only 100 degrees F at the campground), and relaxed.
Friday, we spent as a quiet day, went into the city of Moab to see about a computer issue, did some shopping, returned to the campground, and prepared for Shabbat. While we were discussing whether to leave our air conditioner on all of Shabbat, we read that the temperature was supposed to drop about 15 or more degrees over Friday night; we decided to skip the air conditioning (it is noisy), and go with the fan, which turned out to be a good decision. Shabbat was in the 80s and cloudy.
Canyonlands National Park Needles District
Sunday morning, we left our campground of five nights and drove the two hours to the Needles District of Canyonlands, named after the red and white banded rock pinnacles which dominate the area. Although we have traveled on many beautiful roads, the 30+ minute stretch of road from the main highway to the Needles entrance is absolutely stunning and easily ranks as one of our favorite byways.
We decided that we wanted to camp here for the night and went first to the part of the campground that is first come, first served. Finding a beautiful spot, we paid our $10.00 (seniors fee), put our name on the block, and went off to do two hikes.
The first was relatively short and easy, a 0.6-mile round-trip walk at Pothole Point. Really, it looked like a moon surface, mostly rocks with potholes – which looked like craters – carved into them. As this is summer, they were mostly dry – a few did have a bit of water – but we imagine that after a rain, when they are filled up, the surface must look unreal.
Our second walk was a 2-hour hike named Slickrock, a trail that features four viewpoints along its winding up-and-down path, each viewpoint having a fantastic 360-degree view of canyons and rock cliffs. It is called slickrock because the paths over the rocks can be slippery even when dry (and the terrain is very uneven) – and especially so when wet. It was a great walk and we felt a sense of accomplishment when we finished.
After returning to our RV we found a hitchhiker sitting on top of the van.
In the evening, we attended a ranger talk on petroglyphs (etchings into stones) and pictographs (paintings on stones), forms of art used by the various groups who lived in this area up until about 800 years ago.
We enjoyed our campground and campsite so much that we decided to stay an extra night and enjoy a few more, relatively easy, hikes: a short trail to an ancestral Puebloan granary and a longer loop trail to a historic cowboy camp (ranching was practiced in the area until 1975), with a few more pictographs thrown in. [As an aside, in the 1950s, uranium mining took place here; the mining companies put in roads and generally tore up some of the rugged and beautiful area.]
In both parts of Canyonlands, the trails are marked by cairns, small rocks stacked one on top of the other. Without these guideposts, it would be easy to get very lost.
Canyonlands National Park was established in 1964.
We called this post “Similar but Different.” The five Utah national parks are all part of the Colorado Plateau (130,000 square miles, mostly in Utah, with small portions in Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona) first explored by Major John Wesley Powell who conducted surveys of the Colorado River and its neighboring region in 1869 and 1871-72. The five parks have common themes – sedimentary rocks (sandstone and limestone), uplift, and erosion. They all look a little bit the same, but each has variations on these themes which make them unique. The landscape is extraordinary, and a person must step back so as not to be overwhelmed. We tried to do just that by choosing a few trails in each park, reading park-distributed materials and other sources, and simply trying to “soak up the atmosphere.” With our photos to remind us, these sights will not be forgotten.
Our trip was winding down and it was time to start heading back in the direction of Atlanta. One major point of interest remained: Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. There was a major forest fire raging between Canyonlands and Mesa Verde, which put our being able to go there in some doubt – but as we drove on, we saw that the fire was mostly under control, and that Mesa Verde was open.