Canyonlands National Park

After Arches, we headed to nearby Canyonlands National Park. Canyonlands is a remote area of Utah surrounding the confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers. Whereas Arches was quite easy to access and heavily traveled as a result, the most convenient section of Canyonlands is a good hour and a half drive out into the middle of nowhere.

That section of the park, called “Island in the Sky” is on a high plateau between the two rivers and provides spectacular views of the surrounding canyons. The park contains two other distinct sections: “The Needles,” which is partly accessible by road and about three hours from the Island; and “The Maze” which is almost completely inaccessible without a high clearance four-wheel drive vehicle (which we don't have) and tons of time/patience (which we don't have). In truth, the majority of the park would be best seen via multi-day back country drives. Maybe next time....

We visited the Island section in the morning which, due to it's height above the surrounding Canyonlands offers fantastic views over the scenery. Here's some pictures of what we saw:

In the afternoon we drove down to the “Needles” which is a few thousand feet lower than “island in the sky” and gives much closer access to the needle formations. The best part by far though was the drive to the park entrance through the Indian Creek valley. Here's some pics:

After a long day of driving and canyon viewing, we headed back to Moab for some Mexican food and a good night's sleep. Next stop Bryce Canyon National Park (with a few detours along the way).