Park 3: Canyonlands May 2009

The early morning sun casting shadows.

On the same trip to visit Arches National Park, we headed south of Moab to Canyonlands National Park. Named as such because the Colorado and Green Rivers have carved actual canyons into the landscape, Canyonlands covers about 525 square miles and is divided into 3 different districts. The area we chose to hike in is called the Needles district which is named after the red and white banded rock pinnacles which dominate it. Unlike Arches National Park, where many of the sites are accessible by short hikes or even your car, most of the good stuff in Canyonlands requires some long-distance hiking.

Starting at the "Elephant Hill" trailhead, we spent the majority of the day doing the Chesler Park Loop, which provided great views of the Needles formations. In the southern portion, the trail sent us through deep, narrow fractures in the rock called "fins". These were amazingly fun, a little bit scary, and wonderfully chilly. In the hot desert heat, these fins acted as an air-conditioned hallway to hike through.

Inside the fins.

On full day hikes like these, we usually start out as early as possible to beat the heat. That being said, by the end of the hike,  in the late afternoon sun, I was ready for some shade. (I'm sure it didn't help that Dad and I "raced" the last couple of miles... I like to hike in front, but so does he.)

The one thing I really enjoyed about Canyonlands is that the trails aren't full of hikers. Because the park requires so much back-country hiking, many of what I call "just tourists" stay away. There's nothing more annoying than sharing the trail with folks that just got off the tour bus wearing flip-flops and carrying nothing but their purses and cameras!

The Needles