Canyonlands National Park - Island in the Sky - Moah, Utah

Canyonlands National Park is divided into three sections by the Colorado and Green Rivers. The Northernmost section, the “Islands in the Sky” division, is just north of the city of Moab. The “Needles” district is roughly 60 miles south of Moab. West of the Needles District, on the other side of the Colorado River, is the “Maze” District. Our plan was to visit the Islands in the Sky and the Needles districts on separate days due to the geographic distance between them. We decided not to visit the Maze district since it is so isolated that virtually the only way to even approach it is with a four wheel drive vehicle, and we weren’t planning to do any more four- wheel drive trips at this time. LOL!!!!!!!

The Islands in the Sky District sits on a high mesa looking down on a massive series of canyons carved out by the winding Colorado River and its major subsidiary, the Green River. It literally looks like a slightly smaller version of the Grand Canyon, with all of the layers of rock exposed in turn as the Colorado River cut deeper and deeper over time. It was particularly intriguing the way the light played off the different cliff faces as we moved around to different viewpoints within the park. This affect was enhanced as the sun moved from overhead towards the west as the day progressed. Jo was in hog heaven shooting hundreds of photographs in an effort to capture all of these different lighting effects on the beautiful rock walls.

Two days later, we traveled south to the Needles District. Unlike the Islands in the Sky District, the Needles District gets its name from the collection of needle pointed spires and towers that are the remains of mesas and buttes in this area that have severely eroded away.

Just prior to entering the Needles District, we were pleasantly surprised to come across “Newspaper Rock”, a rock wall with a fine collection of Indian petroglyphs. The petroglyphs on this rock have been carved over hundreds of years by scrapping away the layer of black “rock varnish” which has been deposited over time on top of the red sandstone rock. Among the primitive figures thus carved on the rock face are big horn sheep, bison, and horses. In addition to some human figures as well, there were several carvings of human hands. The archeologists seem to have different theories as to why the native Americans liked carving hand prints in the petroglyphs. Our initial impression was that it was recent graffiti and we were glad to learn that it was not. Finding these petroglyphs on Newspaper Rock was a pleasant and surprising bonus on this trip.

Upon entering the Needles District of Canyonlands NP, we were struck by the feeling of openness of the prier lands stretched out among the buttes and mesas in the park. We felt like we were in territory better fitted for cowboys and herds of cattle than a national park. The Needles rock formations that give this district its name were located some distance from the nearest paved roads, and could only be approached by means of very rugged four wheel drive trails. No Way!!!!!! Instead, we were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves surrounded by numerous “mushroom rock” formations. These consist of rounded caps of hard white limestone which sit atop “stems” of red sandstone. Apparently, the sandstone in this area is softer and erodes away faster, leaving the rounded white caps looking like the tops of mushrooms on a stem. Many of the “stems” have eroded away entirely, so some areas look like a field of mushroom caps lying on a bed of red soil.

At the end of the paved road, there was a viewpoint looking out over several of these areas of mushroom rock formations. We were able to take a short walk from the road and found ourselves in small alcove carved out of the red sandstone over the years by a combination of wind and water. We climbed up into this alcove and sat there for 20-30 minutes listening to the quiet of the desert and absorbing the visual delights of the surrounding landscape. Fortunately, there were very few visitors in this section of the park, so we suffered very few disruptions of our solitude. We both felt that this experience was the highlight of our trip to Canyondlands.

Dead Horse State Park

Just outside of the Islands in the Sky District of Canyonlands NP is Dead Horse State Park. It has several overlooks which offer views of the Colorado River, and the canyons it has carved, which are similar to some of the views available in Islands in the Sky. Dead Horse Park, however, attracts many fewer visitors so it provides much more of a feeling of solitude. We had a lovely picnic lunch with Rick and Ann near the edge of one of the canyon overlooks. Our peace and solitude during lunch was disrupted only by a family of friendly chipmunks who continued to scurry around our picnic table in the hopes of getting handouts, or at least some crumbs. While we refrained from feeding them, their apparent lack of fear of humans suggested that other people in the past disregarded the rules on feeding wildlife and found these chipmunks too cute to resist.

After spending several hours wandering along the edge of the cliff face, enjoying the view of the Colorado River from various angles, we ultimately concluded that Dead Horse State Park provided an even more attractive view of this rugged country than did the Islands in the Sky District of Canyonlands National Park. We would strongly recommend that anyone visiting Canyonlands NP include a day trip to Dead Horse State park as well.