Canyonlands National Park, Utah

We were so excited to be on the road again to our next destination! This time our travels took us to a place none of us had been before. Queue the Star Trek music, lol!

Canyonlands National Park was wild, desolate, and incredibly beautiful. There were also a lot less people than some of the national parks we explored.

There are four separate districts in the park: Island in the Sky, The Needles, The Maze, and The Rivers. The areas we viewed were in the Island in the Sky district due to time constraints since driving between the areas can take from two to six hours by car.

We stopped by the visitor center to get our maps and Junior Ranger books, then we began to explore!

Our first adventure was hiking to Mesa Arch. It was a relatively short hike (0.6 miles) and it led to an incredible view of the La Sal Mountains. Juliana enjoyed being a mountain goat as she hopped and jumped along the trail. 😉

The trail itself was really interesting! We saw Prickly Pear Cactus, Pinyon Pine, and Utah Juniper as we crossed the dry and somewhat rugged terrain. I loved the way the trails were marked by small rock piles (cairns).

When we arrived at Mesa Arch, we were surprised by the view! Looking through the arch towards the canyon and mountains was breathtaking! Seeing the fallen rocks and gravel that came off the sheer rock walls of the canyon due to erosion was really cool.

There were some amazing places to stop and take in the scenery and learn about the plants and animals that lived in the park.

Our next stop was the Green River Overlook (6000 ft. elevation) where we learned about Major John Wesley Powell’s mission to explore the Colorado River and Green River. He described the area as: “a strange, weird, grand region” with “cathedral-shaped buttes, towering hundreds or thousands of feet, cliffs that cannot be scaled, and canyon walls that shrink the river into insignificance.” His description was incredibly accurate!

Buck Canyon Overlook was next on our agenda. This overlook was a very easy walk, but provided some gorgeous views!

Our final destination was Grand View Point where we enjoyed a 1.8 mile hike roundtrip. It’s so hard to adequately describe the way the canyon looked. The land was so flat, with the exception of the areas carved away by the Colorado River and erosion. The spires looked like they could be washed away at any moment.

We really enjoyed Canyonlands National Park. The desolate beauty and stark land contrasts were amazing to be able to see.

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