Canyonlands is like the overlooked little sibling of the National Park Systems. Most people only head to Canyonlands if they are already visiting Arches National Park and don’t allot for extended visitation time. We only spent one very windy day at Canyonlands, but enjoyed the views immensely. In fact, I felt like the canyons here rivaled (if not beat) the views at the Grand Canyon. I remember reading in a travel blog that the Grand Canyon felt too large to fully take in its beauty. Canyonlands is like a baby Grand Canyon. It is a smaller park (at least the truly accessible pieces), but it is absolutely breathtaking. Unfortunately, I don’t think that my pictures here really do it justice. Between not having the appropriate lens to capture the pictures and the crazy overcast, snowy weather, my camera just didn’t pick up what we actually witnessed.
Canyonlands is a veritable all you can eat buffet. There’s a little bit of everything here – deserts, fossils, rivers, canyons. There are three main sections of the park, Island in the Sky, the Needles, and the Maze. Island in the Sky is the most visited and accessible area of the park. The sandstone cliffs tower 1,000 feet above an amazing array of features. There are overlooks along the canyon edges, each providing a view more spectacular than the last. The Needles is named for the type of rock formation found in this section of the park. This is a more remote area, considered “backcountry,” and one would need to access these amazing sights via off road vehicles or rugged hiking. The third section of the park is the Maze which is remote and requires significant skill to traverse. In the 1970s, a neighboring section of amazing rock art was added to the park. While I would have loved to visit Horseshoe Canyon to see what is touted to be “some of the most significant rock art in North America,” the terrain here is described as unpredictable and unrelenting.
We are adventurous at heart, but don’t have “backcountry worthy” skills. Due to the weather conditions (there was considerable snow and ice on the ground), the rangers were advising all visitors to stay in Islands in the Sky on the day of our visit. There were occasionally very short trails out to some of the overlooks, but most of our day was spent cruising through the park and popping out to devour the amazing views.
We did make one short hike out to see Mesa Arch. We knew we were about to see our fair share of arches at Arches NP, but the ranger told us we wouldn’t want to miss this one. The landscape through the arch was gorgeous, something that can’t be said of all the arches at the “other” national park. It was definitely worth checking out.
History
Humans have been traveling through and living in the Canyonlands area for over 10,000 years. Ancestral Puebloans inhabited the lands and it still holds significance for many of their descendant tribes. Cowboys utilized Canyonlands for winter pasture, harvesting food for their livestock, and as a water source beginning around 1880. In the 1950s and 1960s, the superintendent of Arches (which was only a National Monument at that time) advocate to transform Canyonlands into a National Park. Bates Wilson is now considered the “father of Canyonlands.”
When traveling through Utah, it can be very challenging to choose which amazing parks to visit. I highly recommend making a stop at Canyonlands to soak up the spectacular panorama.