Tough to beat our recent state park visit for views of canyons but this park did not lack for wonderful scenery of the canyons formed by the Colorado and Green rivers. There are two different “units” to this park. One is called “The Needles” and the other “Island in the Sky”. We spent one full day at each unit hiking and gawking at the massive canyons.
Such an expansive view. One canyon flows right into another and then another….
We will save a hike along that dirt path in the picture for another day.
A reverse canyon of sorts?? These flat mountains are called buttes. We have had many a nice hike up and down many buttes across the country. As long as we do not slide down them on our butts they are fun to climb.
As Arches NP has canyons, Canyonlands NP has arches. This one looks like it might not be around for long? Check out the crack in the middle of it.
Where did everyone go? Much of the rim hike here at Island in the Sky is on this cool sandstone tread. Not very slick, even when wet. We asked the rangers why no one seems to be harnessed in and climbing these sandstone cliffs and she said it was because sandstone doesn’t provide a strong enough base to hammer into.
When not walking directly on the canyon rim the trail takes on a kind of desert/scrub forest look. Nice hoodoo in the center, eh?
This spot with salt deposits in the middle has an unknown origin. Theory has it that it was caused by a meteorite. When a crater was formed, the heat from impact melted the salt crystals which were then eventually pushed to the surface.
Day two of our canyonlands adventure was spent at “The Needles” unit. These “needles” are really hoodoos and sandstone “fins” and form a nice metropolitan skyline we thought.
These nice looking buttes will not be climbed today as they are a bit far away and, from what we can find out, have no trail up them. They have the nickname “Monitor and Merrimac”. I suppose if you close your eyes, you can see the resemblance!
As with Mesa Verde, there is evidence of previous civilizations here in the park. The ranger said there were many more of these “secret hiding spots” located in the park but this is the one they chose to highlight on the trail.
We named these hoodoos “His and Hers”.
On our way back “home” we could not resist stopping for a picture of this huge rock that they forgot to blast or tunnel through when the road was constructed.
We stopped at a road side pullout and took a short walk to see “Newspaper Rock”. Evidently these petroglyphs span many centuries and many different tribal units. Supposedly it was used as a form of written communication similar to a newspaper.
Very “cool” spot on a hot summers day. The food truck court in downtown Moab served up all sorts of different types of food. I had a nice brick oven “carnivore” pizza and Laurie had fish tacos. Fabulous. We had never seen a mist curtain like this but it really did cool the area off.
Canyonlands was a favorite! We backpacker in Needles and dayhiked Islands in the sky for two days.❤️ There is also a 3rd section, the Maze.