Canyonlands National Park

Canyonlands National Park was the last of Utah’s Mighty 5 for us to visit. As many do, we combined this trip with our Arches National Park trip with a home base in Moab Utah. It’s not too often you can visit two national parks from one stop, but Utah is no ordinary state.

Canyonlands, although not one of the most popular Utah national parks, has its own unique vibe and you’d be remiss to not include this in your travel plans through Utah. Canyonlands has three sections to it and depending on where you focus your time you could easily do the park in just a day or spend a week or two. We spent two days in the park, one day at Island in the Sky district and the other at The Needles district. The other district of the park, The Maze, is very remote and requires backpacking to experience.

Island in the Sky

Island in the Sky is the most visited and easily accessible part of the park. If you only have one day to spend in Canyonlands, go here. This district consists of one main road to access several viewpoints and hikes of different lengths. There are also a few 4WD roads to explore further.

The first stop you come to after the Visitors Center is Shafer Overlook. We bypassed this until later, based on some good advice. Instead, we went to the popular Mesa Arch first. We weren’t early enough to catch the glow often seen in the couple of hours after sunrise, but this was a really beautiful arch right on the side of the cliff. It was just a short .6-mile hike to get there and a great start to the day.

We then took the road to the far end and explored Grand View Point and White Rim Overlook. Both spots offer some hiking or the option to simply take it all in from the viewpoint. We did a little of both. The views along this area are absolutely spectacular. On one side of the overlook is the Colorado River and on the other side is the Green River. Just down from this is the confluence where the two rivers join.

As we made our way back, we hit all of the overlooks, exploring most of the park by car and some short hikes since it was quite warm. Another short and really cool hike I did was Upheaval Dome. This dome formed in a large crater is a bit of a mystery to scientist. One theory is that it was caused by a salt dome that cracked and tilted over time. The other theory is that is was caused by a violent meteorite impact. Either way, it is something to see.

Now to Shafer Overlook. There are actually three viewpoints for Shafer Overlook, stop at all three of them. The views here into the canyon below with the Colorado river are amazing. The other crazy site to see is the Shafer Trail Road that switchbacks up the side of the mountain. About the only thing better than seeing this view from above, is experiencing the road firsthand. Yeah, you bet we did!

That brings us to, getting to the Island in the Sky district. Sure, you can take the main road from Moab and get there in about 40 minutes, but what’s the fun in that when there is an amazing alternative. Instead, pickup Potash Road in Moab. This gravel road goes along the Colorado River in what I call the mid-canyon level. It’s an amazing road with lots of sites along the way. The first odd thing we came to was large pools of royal blue. This is part of the potash mining process and looks more like a tropical oasis, way out of place.

A bit further down is a famous spot from the movie Thelma and Louise. Remember the last scene in the movie where they drive the convertible off the edge? Yep, this is it. We prepped ourselves by watching the movie the night before. As tempting as it was for one last kiss and a hand holding drive over the edge, we have more to explore.

After a split in the road, it turns into the aforementioned Shafer Trail. We’ve been on a couple pretty hairy dirt switchback roads like this in the past month or so, but this one was the hairiest. This old cattle and mining road gains 1500 feet in just 2.5 miles and when you reach the top you’re just a minute from the entrance gate to the park. It’s steep and scary. Guardrails, who needs guardrails? Do we recommend it? Hell, yes!

If you have a high clearance 4WD vehicle and want to take a different way back to Moab, while still avoiding the pavement, try Long Canyon trail as we did. This is a fun trail with a few obstacles along the way that cuts back into Potash Road and a good way to close our day one at Canyonlands.

The Needles

The Needles is a much more remote part of the park and about an hour and a half from Moab. It gets its name from the colorful spires of cedar mesa sandstone that dominate the area. If you have a second day to explore don’t miss this, we certainly weren’t going to.

There are plenty of very cool places to explore and we started out with Roadside Ruins. This very short hike takes you to a storage structure built by Indigenous people. Another step back in time moment.

Next was Cave Spring, another short hike but one that requires climbing a couple of ladders along the way to make it even more interesting. There is a historic preserved cowboy camp at the start of the trail and then areas with very neat rock formations. Lots of fun exploring here.

Pothole Point trail was another great one to explore the rocks and caves. It also provided one of the best views of the Needles. A really fun short hike.

Big Spring Canyon Overlook has some of the best views in the park in my opinion. Yeah, you can hike the 7.5 mile strenuous hike, but not in this hot weather. But that didn’t bother us, there was plenty to explore right around the point. It’s much more than just a lookout.

As you drive through the park there is plenty more to see right from your car windshield, such as Elephant Hill and Wooden Shoe Arch. There’s also a spectacular display of 2,000-year-old petroglyphs at Newspaper Rock. This is the clearest and most extensive native markings that we have seen. There are also many opportunities for challenging hikes in this area, more so than the Island in the Sky district. We’ll save those for next time.

There are also some back roads in The Needles district for further exploration. We took a trip down the Colorado River Overlook trail; it was a pretty long bumpy trail but the views at the end were simply amazing. We could have spent hours there, but it was getting late and the pups were back at the camp waiting on us, so time to move on.

Beyond the Park

Dead Horse Point State Park is just a few miles from the entrance to the Island in the Sky district. The main attraction is the peninsula of rock atop a sheer sandstone cliff on a bend in the Colorado river. The peninsula is connected to the mesa by a narrow strip of land called the neck. Although an amazing site to see, it does have a dark history. According to one legend, the point was used as a corral for wild mustangs roaming the mesa top. Cowboys rounded up these horses, herded them across the narrow neck of land and onto the point. The neck, which is only 30-yards-wide, was then fenced off with branches and brush, creating a natural corral surrounded by precipitous cliffs. The cowboys then chose the horses they wanted and for reasons unknown, left the other horses corralled on the waterless point where they died of thirst within view of the Colorado River, 2,000 feet below. Although the park is quite small it requires a $20 entrance fee, which we felt it was worth it for the unique experience to see this.

It doesn’t matter when or in what order you do the Utah Might 5, but my best advice, other than to simply do them all, is to take your time in doing so. There is so much to experience both within the national parks and beyond them in the surrounding areas. Utah is an amazing state full of natural wonders that should be sipped like a fine wine.

Be sure to check out the rest of our pictures of Canyonlands along with our blogs on the other Utah Mighty 5.