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Updated 02/11/23 7:04 PM

Canyonlands National Park

Utah's Canyonlands National Park is another of Utah's gems. A vast wilderness of red rock canyons, stunning vistas, great hiking trails and fantastic back country jeep trails.

Utah

2003, 2008, 2012

About The Park

Just a few miles north, and south, of Moab, Utah is Canyonlands National Park. This another one of Utah's amazing national parks. The scenery is vast and breathtaking. It's a high desert landscape of buttes and mesas, steep canyons and ancient petroglyphs and pictographs.

The town of Moab is outdoor central for hiking, mountain biking, off-road driving, and rock climbing. Surrounded by two magnificent national parks there is no shortage of things to do for the lovers of the great outdoors as well as those who just want to gaze upon spectacular vistas.

Canyonlands National Park is divided into three districts. The Colorado River separates the Needles District from the Islands in the Sky and from the Maze and those two are separated by the green River which intersects with the Colorado. The easiest to get to, which is the one just north of Moab, is the Islands in the Sky district. South of Moab, about 35 miles, is the turnoff for the Needles District (Utah hwy 211). On the other side of the Colorado River is the Maze district. The Maze district is only accessible off US Highway 24 to the West and it is strictly a back country area. It's hard to get to, hours away from Moab, and there are only 4WD roads into it so relatively few people visit it.

The road into the Islands in the Sky is a ‘Y’ and each arm of the ‘Y’ is about five miles so it is easy to do both on the first a trip into Canyonlands. There are overlooks and some hiking trails.

If you head South of Moab about 35-40 miles there is the turn off for Utah 211 which is the road into to the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park. The visitor center is another 30 or 35 miles in, past some ranches, and all told it's about 76 miles from Moab. About 13 miles on highway 211 the road passes a place called Newspaper Rock. It is filled with countless petroglyphs and since it's right along the road you wouldn't want to miss it.

Wildlife

The park is home to black bears, coyotes, skunks, bats, elk, foxes, bobcats, badgers, two species of ring-tailed cats, pronghorns, and cougars. There are also bald and golden eagles, owls, many other types of birds, rattlesnakes and a variety of reptiles and amphibians.

Lodging

There’s plenty of lodging in Moab. All of the major chains have a presence and the town is interesting and fun. Lots of restaurants, tour companies, a vistor’s center where you can get information on everything in the area and plenty of outfitters should you forget something.

Red Cliffs Lodge

Sorrel River Ranch Resort and Spa

Two fine lodges northeast of Moab are the Red Cliffs Lodge and, a few miles further down the road, the Sorrel River Ranch Resort and Spa. They are beautiful places in very scenic locales. Both are on scenic highway 128 which, even if you don’t stay at either of these places, highway 128 is worth just taking a drive 20 miles or so down the road. We’ve stayed at both. The Red Cliffs Lodge is 14 miles east on highway 128 and the Sorrel is 3 miles past it. The only downside is that it takes about a half hour to drive those miles back to highway 191 which is where you have to get to if you want to go to the national parks or the town of Moab itself. Both lodges have dining on the premises but if you want to go into Moab for dinner you wind up taking the trip up and down highway 128 maybe a bit more than you’d like to.

Hiking

Grandview Point

A hike that I would highly recommend in the Islands in the Sky is the hike to Grandview Point. It's about one mile each way on flat terrain through beautiful and interesting scenery. The trail is on a wide flat bench so, while the drop offs at the edge are hundreds of feet, you don't have to be anywhere near them unless height fascinates you and you just want to walk over and take a look down. When you get to Grandview Point you’ll feel like you're standing at the edge of the world.

Upheaval Dome

Another interesting hike in the Islands in the Sky district is the Upheaval Dome hike. This is an easy 1.6 mile out and back hike to an interesting geographic formation. I’ll leave the geologic explanation to the linked web page.

Slickrock Foot Trail

A few miles past the Needles district visitor center, near the end of the road, is the Slickrock Foot Trail. This is a 2.4 mile loop hike that I would highly recommend. It's fairly flat, which makes it very easy, and the views are terrific.

Deadhorse Point State Park

On the way into The Islands in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park there's a turn off for Dead Horse Point State Park. This is certainly a side trip worth taking. At the end of the road there is a visitor center and behind it is the Deadhorse Point overlook and the views are spectacular. It's an iconic view of the Canyonlands area and Colorado river. Just below you can see a dirt road snaking around the rock which is the Shafer trail - a back country 4WD road (see below). This view actually was the backdrop for a Visa commercial a few years back of a girl rock-climbing to the top a thin spire. There’s no spires to be seen here because it was juxtaposed on this view looking down from Deadhorse point. But what is real is that just to the right, if you follow the dirt road around the bend but out of the picture, is the point where Thelma and Louise gunned their car and went flying off into eternity.

Off Road - Back Country Drives

If you are into back country driving but not necessarily serious off-roading there are lots of these trails in the Moab area. Some can be done in stock SUVs (but 4WD is always better). But do remember, if you are in a rental car, driving off the pavement will be in violation of your rental agreement and all the major companies satellite track vehicles. If you come back with damage they will get the GPS track report from the tracking company and you may have some difficulty convincing them that the damage occurred in a Walmart parking lot.

That being said…

Shafer Trail

In the Islands in the Sky, the Shafer Trail is one of the more spectacular back country roads anywhere. It's a 10 on a scale of 10 in terms of scenery. It rates 4 or 5 on a 10 scale in difficulty mainly due to the heart-pounding drive up a steep switchback into Canyonlands. There is a separate page on this website devoted to this back country drive and the link to that page and photo gallery is below.

Colorado Overlook trail

In the Needles district, at one end of the parking lot for the visitor center, is the entrance to the Colorado Overlook trail. This is another 4WD trail but it's fairly easy and we did it with stock all-wheel drive SUVs. With sufficient care, and occasionally having a spotter outside the car guiding me over some slick rock, we managed to not do any damage to the car. You hike about the last three quarters of a mile to a point overlooking, and hundreds of feet above, the Colorado River.

Hell’s Revenge

On another trip I rented a jeep from Outlaw Jeep Tours and had the owner guide me (I followed his jeep) to a place called Hell’s Revenge for four hours of some white knuckle driving. I’ve driven lots of back country roads but nothing like this. This was quite an experience and when it was over, despite leather driving gloves, my hands were black and my shoulders ached from the tension. However, the scenery was as spectacular as the driving was challenging. My wife managed to film lots of it, including the hair-raising ride in along a narrow sandstone fin, with one hand holding the camera and the other holding on for dear life. There are also guided tours, where they drive the jeep, and if you want an experience as exciting as any Six Flags theme park, but with beautiful natural scenery, this is worth looking into.

Rafting

Cataract Canyon

You can also raft into Canyonlands on the Colorado River for a day trip. Or you can take a multi-day rafting trip down the Colorado, through Cataract Canyon, into Lake Powell. In 2003 we did a three day trip with a group of friends and my son. Jo Ann and I planned the trip, and when we told our friends, two other couples wanted to join us and my son flew in from Boston for it. There were eight of us and with the two guides we were the entire group on the trip. We spent two nights in tents camping by the side of the river. It was an awesome experience. Cataract Canyon is one of the premier white-water rafting experiences in the country. However, we did this in late August so the river was probably down to class III or so rapids instead of the class V that it could be in spring when the runoff is high. There are three rapids that are in that class (V) when the water is high and the National Park site used to have a page with all the fatalities. In 2003, when we went, the page had 21 fatalities listed. I think it's fairly safe to say that most of these people were not on guided trips but we're doing it themselves, some were in over their head, others up there in years or unrealistic in their assessment of their abilities. Of course you could just plain get unlucky. Unless you are an experienced river runner, guided trips are really the only way to go. We booked a trip with Adrift Adventures in Moab and had a great trip. They do all kinds of tours in addition to rafting (biking, jeep, ATV, horse back riding etc).

For us the rafting trip was an unforgettable experience. It was all the more unforgettable because, due to the low water level in Lake Powell, we had to take the rafts into a side canyon where a van was supposed to pick us up. When we planned the trip we had the option of flying back or taking a van back and, since a couple of people were not thrilled the prospect of getting on a small plane, we elected to go back by van. As it turned out because we were in a side canyon the van was unable to find us. The guide had a satellite phone and called the office. They told him that they would send planes down to pick us up. We were told that we should hike out to the road and hitchhike to an airstrip down the road. I asked the guide how far the highway was. He said about 3 miles so I asked him had he taken this hike before and he said ‘no’. At that point I said well, if you never took this hike, it sounds like you're just speculating and maybe it's 4 miles or 5 miles to which he nodded that it could be. The temperature was in the 90s and with a group that was in sandals and throw-away sneakers, appropriate for rafting, since we weren't planning on hiking for miles, that didn't sound all that inviting. Since we had no choice, we gathered up all our sea bags, and filled everything with water that we could, including open cups that we walked with so that we’d have that much more to drink, and set off looking for the main highway.

Eventually we did reach Highway 95 and while we were trying to get somebody to stop and help us a Ranger pulled up. They were notified that we were missing and they were looking for us. Moments later the van that was supposed to pick us up down at the lake showed up and he took us to the airstrip. There were two small planes and they split us up by weight and 35 minutes later we landed in Moab. The trip by plane was spectacular because we followed the river, that we had just rafted down for three days, all the way back up through Canyonlands National Park. It was a real treat to see the three districts of Canyonlands from the air. We got to see the Maze district from the air and, with all its uniquely colored canyons, it was easy to see why they call it the Maze.

Canyonlands National Park Photo Gallery

Canyonlands National Park - Shafer Trail back country drive

Other Resources

Canyonlands National Park on the National Parks Service website - NPS.gov

Canyonlands National Park - Wikipedia

Shafer Trail - NPS.gov

Outlaw Jeep Tours

Adrift Adventures

Utah - VisitUtah.com

Dead Horse Point State Park

Picture of the Islands In The Sky district of Canyonlands National Park

Other National Parks and National Monuments Within a Day’s Drive

If you are visiting Canyonlands National Park then you are probably staying in Moab, Ut. These distances are from Moab.

Arches National Park has over 2000 arches including Delicate Arch, Utah’s state symbol, and is about 3 miles north of Moab.

Mesa Verde National Park Home to ancient cliff dwellings set into a beautiful mesa is 140 miles south and about a 2 plus hour drive.

Capitol Reef National Park This spectacular fold in the Earth’s crust is 153 miles west and about a 3 hour drive if you take the interstate. A far more scenic trip would be to visit Natural Bridges National Monument on the way to Capitol Reef which would add 100 miles and another 2 hours plus whatever time you spend touring Natural Bridges.

Colorado National Monument a dramatic red rock canyon is only 125 miles to the east and about a 2.5 hour drive.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park This spectacular canyon is 75 miles east of the Colorado National Monument.

These national monuments are on Navajo Tribal land and are as worthwhile to visit as any national park.

Monument Valley Tribal Park Famous for its massive sandstone buttes and as a backdrop for many a Hollywood western movie is about 140 miles south and about a 2 plus hour drive.

Canyon De Chelly National Monument Ancient cliff dwellings carved into the sides of a steep canyon is about 203 miles south and about a 4 plus hour drive.
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