Where to stick Canyonlands National Park (05-24-12)

After typing the title and rereading it, I realized it didn’t sound quite the way I intended, but eh, I am leaving it.  I intended to write about Canyonlands National Park in my last post, but decided it would be one topic too many, so I held off.  Now that we are in Moab and have been to Arches, I am thinking “oops” because Arches will definitely require it’s own post and adding Canyonlands to it just plain wouldn’t work.  So, Canyonlands gets it’s own post!

If  I’ve left the impression that Canyonlands is just a so-so place, that would be wrong.  We really enjoyed Canyonlands but it truly is an area geared toward preservation of resources with a little hiking thrown in, so the average visitor will spend only one day (or just an afternoon) in the park.

   Canyonlands is divided into three sections that were carved over eons by the Green and Colorado Rivers. The most remote section is called The Maze.  Backpacker Magazine just named it one of the top 10 most dangerous places to hike, so we didn’t go there.  The fact that not that many people have died there is due only to the fact that no inexperienced hikers are stupid enough to hike there. That was enough to keep me out! The second most remote area is called the Needles District.  That they have a Visitors Center says that it’s ok to visit here.  We stayed in a nearby BLM campground while we explored this area.
       The spires/needles are made of  clearly defined layers of red and white sandstone. The white sandstone is beach sand that came from an ancient sea that has long since retreated.  The red sand came from the mountains.  Over many years the layers hardened into the sandstone that we see today.  I know that we’ve spent the last few weeks doing nothing but hiking in “red rock” areas, and they all start to look alike, but there are differences.  When I start to think I’ve had enough, I remember that once we leave here for Grand Teton and Yellowstone, our surroundings will change dramatically, so we’ll enjoy the red rock while we have it.


That afternoon we arrived, the temperature soared to 94° and the forecast for the next day was for a high of 96°.  Of course, the campground has no hookup, so things (Dozer) got a bit warm. We had a little time to get to the Visitor’s Center, and asked a ranger for some help picking out a hike for the following day.  We decided on the 6 mile hike to Chesler Park, but given the forecast, we decided we needed to be on the trail by 8 am at the latest.  It worked out well because we were back by noon, packed up, and headed into Moab, where we had a reservation for a week at a park with hookup (thanks for the tip Nancy!!)

From Moab we were able to access the third section of Canyonlands- Island in the Sky.  This is the area that is most accessible, and has a scenic drive to show off the best parts. From the vantage points along the road, you can see the rivers cutting through the stone, creating canyons as they go.

Canyonlands even has it’s own arches, although nothing on the same scale as Arches National Park.








We didn’t have that much time to explore Canyonlands, because Arches was calling our name, but we will come back here because there are definitely more hikes that we would like to do.  Meantime, we have lost two days of exploring.  We are sitting here in Moab being pelted by sand and debris as we endure sustained winds of 24 mph, with gusts into the 55 mph range.  It’s supposed to get a little worse later today, so we are hunkered down with the main slide in for stability. You would think I have no excuse for not getting caught up on my paperwork but actually, my new camera arrived yesterday, and we met some new friends, so I have plenty of excuses for not working on my budget.  We went over to Avril and Dan’s place last night to watch a movie, and are thinking of going out for dinner tonight.  I’ve also been trying to learn about the new camera, which has some features that I am really excited about.  It does panorama shots:
I can’t practice with it too much because I am not going to take it outside with the dust storm that’s going on. It has a GPS, which I have wanted since I saw my friend Steve’s camera, and it takes 3D photos, which I doubt I’ll use for a while. It’s pure digital, not digital SLR, but it still has settings for aperture, shutter speed etc. so all that will be a learning curve for me.  Luckily it still has “intelligent auto” so I can just point and shoot, and the camera decides what setting to use!