Canyonlands National Park is located in southeastern Utah. There are significantly fewer visitors to Canyonlands than to Arches National Park which is located within 20 miles of Canyonlands. This vast park encompasses nearly 340,000 acres and is divided into four distinctly different regions:
- Island in the Sky
- Needles District
- The Maze
- The rivers
The first three listed here are actual 'districts' on the map while the eastern and western rivers form the last district. Most visitors congregate in the Island in the Sky district as it is the most accessible from Moab, Utah. Approximately 50 miles further south, visitors can enter the Needles district. Otherworldly spires of red rock fill the landscape. It almost doesn't look like it can be real. Other than the wind passing through, it's so quiet that it's almost uncomfortable. And then you get used to it and wonder how you can live around hundreds of thousands of other people, cars and airplanes.
Most of Canyonlands is off the beaten path and requires a ranger permit to explore. This is for two reasons:
1. If every Tom, Dick and Harry goes traipsing through this delicate earth, it would be ruined.
2. It can be really dangerous out here with no shade, snakes and sheer cliff drops. Rangers would much rather know where you are instead of happening upon your carcass three weeks later.
Our next trip will be to go backpacking along an old Jeep trail in the depths of Canyonlands with our 4-wheeler. I. Can't. Wait.
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| Canyonlands National Park - Utah (All Photos Credit: Lisa Miller) |
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