Canyonlands National Park

Canyonlands National Park was our next destination. It is a big, remote park broken down into four districts. You can't really go from one district to the other within the park in a day because they are separated by rivers, the Green and the Colorado and there aren't any bridges across these rivers. As a result, it can take six hours to get from one district to another.

The districts are:

Island in the Sky. a mesa top , most easily accessible, great views out over the vast canyon landscape, most crowded (🫤), the one we visited while staying at Dead Horse Point State Park.

The Needles.

down in the canyon, named for the spikey sandstone formations, very remote, but does have a visitor's center and a campground, great hikes, people… but not too crowded. Really loved our time here.

The Maze.

down in the canyon, extremely remote, no roads, no campground, backcountry backpacking only. (We didn't go there)

The Rivers.

the actual Green and Colorado rivers, they are two separate rivers and then one after the convergence. We didn't go on the rivers either.

After we had been to Island in the Sky, I had this park on my bottom 10 list. Yes, it was pretty. Yes, the views were amazing. But it all seemed so distant, so small, I just couldn't connect with it. It didn't stir my soul. No wildlife and little flora to capture my heart. Just … meh.

Then we went to the Needles district … the remoteness, being in the canyon basin amongst the sandstone formations, I was hooked. And after a hike or two I was positively smitten. Forget the bottom 10, this park was headed up there to the top 10.

I suppose this illustrates a trait of mine, an axiom of my life. I prefer to be in the thick of things, in the trenches, helping as opposed to viewing things from too far away, too cerebrally. Ask anyone who's served on a committee with me, discussion, but then action. Too much discussion and no tangible plan of action at the end makes me crazy! 😂

Enough philosophizing!

On to pics!!

The first set of pics are from the Island in the Sky district

This is a crater of unknown origin. Some theories: a dissolved salt concentration resulting in a sinkhole, a meteor strike, the remains of an ancient volcano … (ok, the ancient volcano theory is just mine 😂).

Views overlooking the wide basin

And from the basin, more canyon action by the rivers. At one point we watched a motorcycle driving along one of the roads down in the basin. It was memorizing to watch this little ant moving across the land.

Martin contemplating the vastness of it all.

Rabbitbrush was especially prominent in one overlook area.

Another view. It's hard to comprehend and harder to capture in a photo just how immense this area is.

An interesting rock formation along a trail. I thought it looked like a fountain or a giant birdbath.

More views

Mesa Arch

A road that was built on the side of the canyon. It's pretty narrow, fairly steep with some pretty spectacular hairpin turns! Oh yes, of course we drove down and back up it. 😬

The views into the canyon were gorgeous.

And it was really almost ok, until you met someone going the other direction.😱

getting closer …

and closer. Fortunately we only met a couple of vehicles. 😅

Ah, here we go, see? Beautiful again (now that we're down🙄)

The Colorado

Sunset.

These next pics are from the Needles district.

It took all day to drive from Dead Horse Point State Park to the Needles.

Our first sunset there. Pics are from the campground.

Our campground the next morning. That's our Myrtle on the right and yes, a teepee to the left. We were in a super arid landscape, and that sort of shimmering in the foreground is the sky being reflected off the bright, white, burning sand, a mirage of sorts.

A stop at the visitor's center describing the process of forming these architectural wonders from the sandstone.

The amazing capacity of preservation in this climate. This intact mug was found about ten years ago by some hikers. It is likely over a thousand years old.

This looked very statuary to me.

Like someone praying.

A second hike, and now we're into the bigger formations.

Just look at the colors of the canyon walls beyond Martin. It was a gorgeous spot and he has to be soooooo patient while I take pics …

Martin went for a hike one morning and saw a jackrabbit. Look how big his ears are! A desert adaptation.

Another short hike, see how interesting the formations are up close. The trailhead for The Convergence, where the Colorado and Green rivers converge into one river, starts here. It's supposed to be really cool with the brown water from the Colorado going down one side and the blue green water from the Green River going down the other before they start to mix. But it's also a sixteen mile round trip hike … a little too long for me. 🙄

Another hike included the remnants of this cowboy camp. Ranchers would summer their herd down in the basin and live in camps like this.

We lifted a lid on one box and found a family of canyon mice.

Here's a little lizard

Following the trail we came upon these petroglyph handprints near the living spring. A sacred place to the indigenous peoples.

And the living spring, where the water weeps from the rock creating a hanging garden.

The banding in this sandstone caught my eye.

We were deep in the park in quite a remote area. The Needles had “vault toilets” which is essentially a cement outhouse. Just in case one needed any reminders about the remoteness and potential “companions “ about, they had these frightening signs posted on all the bathroom doors as reminders to keep the doors closed…I probably spent five minutes inspecting the room before I even considered undoing my shorts and getting down to business! 😬🔍🕵️ YIKES!

We went on a long hike one day to Chesler Park an open area past the needles, featured in the pic below, the namesake for this district

Along the way we stopped to take a selfie when a kind fellow hiker said he'd be happy to take our pic. He took a couple. Hmmm. I know you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, but …. Haha! 🤣🤣🤣