Just outside of Moab lies Canyonlands National Park – a space that is 4 times the size of Arches, but with less than half the visitation. Despite the remote sections of this park, Canyonlands abounds with backcountry opportunities and adventure. For our family, this national park was an incredible opportunity for solitude with adult hikes and off-roading, along with explorative hikes for the kids. This region is also steeped in cultural history and archaeological sites of the ancestral Puebloans and Utes which offers an intriguing look into life on the Colorado Plateau. 

The northern section of this park, Island in the Sky, offers bird’s-eye views of the confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers. To the south, Needles feels completely different with red and white banded pinnacles, grabens, and arches. To the west lies the Maze, a most excellent place to get lost! As John Wesley Powell writes in his book The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons: 

“From the northwest comes the Green in a narrow winding gorge. From the northeast comes the Grand [Colorado], through a canyon that seems bottomless from where we stand. Away to the west are lines of cliffs and ledges of rock – not such ledges as the reader may have seen where the quarryman splits his blocks, but ledges from which the gods might quarry mountains.” 

Island in the Sky offered several opportunities of short, accessible hikes, with expansive views. Having never been to the Grand Canyon, it is hard for me to image a grander view of canyons! While I have tried to capture just a few of such views in these pictures, it seems that pictures alone cannot do justice to the enormity and intricacy of the canyons surrounding Island in the Sky. The short hikes are certainly great options to interact with the landscape and archaeological sites, however we had the most fun exploring this area via high clearance vehicles and some fantastic off-roading. For those not afraid of heights, the climb to see Upheaval Dome offered views of a most extraordinary geologic feature - a 3-mile wide, 1000-ft deep crater that is completely different than the rest of the Canyonlands terrain.

Making the drive down to the Needles district was a great day trip with the kids. If you only do one hike in that district, I highly recommend Slick Rock Foot trail. The hike over this treeless sandstone plateau stays relatively high above the canyons and offers views of the entire southeastern corner of Canyonlands. It was relatively easy with lots of opportunities to climb up/over slickrock boulders, and great for the kids to practice finding trail markers (cairns) and viewing juniper, blackbrush, and Mormon tea shrubs. Druid Arch made a great adult-solo hike thru slot canyons, sandy washes, and a scramble up a very steep boulder choked ravine. The arch itself is quite different than most arches in the park with it’s angular profile and elongated openings.

We also had the opportunity to drive out to the Needles Overlook, about 1.5 hrs from Moab in Bureau of Land Management land. The views from this overlook were just as commanding as those from Island in the Sky, but offered one significant advantage – no people. Due to its isolated location outside of the national park, significantly fewer people make the trek out there, and we were lucky enough to have the overlook to ourselves. For us, that type of seclusion offers the time and space to really contemplate just how dramatic the scenery really is. 

Horseshoe Canyon is a detached section of the park, found 2.5 hrs west of Island in the Sky and is known for nomadic artifacts dating back 9,000 years. The rock art there was created by archaic-period nomads, and is estimated to be up to 7,000 years old – something unlike any other panel of artwork in the park.  The Great Gallery in particular, is worth the long isolated drive and steep 800 ft descent into the canyon – it shows more than 80 ocher-painted anthropomorphic figures up to eight feet tall. 

I also had the unfortunately experience of coming into contact with the wild burros who inhabit the canyon – a story I will gladly tell you over a shared alcoholic beverage as it was not a pleasant experience. 

Overall, Canyonlands is an expansive wonderland of canyons, arches, spires, and fins. There is a lot of history here – much more than we could hope to discover in our short time visiting. The beauty and isolation of this place will stay with me long after we leave and is a reminder that adventure exists for those who seek it.