Two rivers converged in the russet colored stone creating three distinct regions of geologic wonderland. Millenia of carving, smoothing, eroding, and shaping have left this spectacular garden of stone formations and canyons preserved today as Canyonlands National Park.
The two rivers—Green and Colorado—come together in southeastern Utah before the latter courses its way through to the Grand Canyon. They create a “Y” that lies at the heart of Canyonlands and creates the natural boundaries between the park’s three districts, which are the Big Island in the Sky, the Maze, and the Needles.
On my journey north from Phoenix I spent a day in the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park. Due to limited time, I only explored all of the shorter trails in the district. Someday, I hope to go back and take a few of the longer routes into this labyrinth of rock.
Slickrock Trail
The longest trail I explored climbs up and across slickrock with the path marked by cairns. The trail takes you in a loop on top of a stone formation that is practically surrounded by canyons. Along the trail are several spurs to overlooks granting hikers grand vistas of canyons, bizarre natural architecture, and magnificent snow-capped mountains in the distance.
Pothole Point
This short hike also ambles across slickrock on top of a stone formation. It loops around a collection of massive stones that look like they are an artfully arranged centerpiece on a giant’s table. These boulders have also seen the effects of erosion as they sit in curious shapes.
The trail name comes from one of the features common in this park—naturally formed potholes on the slickrock surfaces. These pockmarks are an important part of this desert’s ecosystem. When it rains they fill with water and become breeding grounds for frogs and invertebrates.
Cave Springs
The third trail I took combined the beauty of the place with some interesting history. From the late 1800s until 1975, ranchers used Canyonlands for winter pasturing. Being a desert water resources are important, so when you find a spring you’ll probably set up camp nearby. That’s what happened here.
Some of those cowboys used the alcoves of the rocky outcropping this trail winds around and over as a camp and corral because of the natural seep spring. When their operation shut down they abandoned their camp leaving lots of stuff behind. It almost looks like a museum exhibit, but it is really a remnant of a past life.
The cowboys weren’t the first ones to leave their mark. Native peoples too used this spring anciently. In the alcoves surrounding the spring are ancient pictographs left by long forgotten cultures. Archeologists don’t believe the Canyonlands area was ever permanently inhabited by these ancient peoples, but rather they used the land for farming areas during certain seasons. They come to this conclusion because only granaries and pictographs have been found with no remnants of dwellings.
This trail is fun too because it takes you around, under and over this low rock outcropping. To get up there are two ladders, which is kind of exciting. I highly recommend borrowing or buying (50 cents) the trail guide to get insight into the history of this interesting place while taking this trail.
A short trail off the main road leads to one of those ancient granaries in the park. Another turnout gives a place to view Wooden Shoe Arch. At some point take some time in the visitor center where they show a short video telling the story of Canyonlands.
I would have liked to stay in the campground inside the park, but it filled earlier than normal, so I was relegated to one of the many campgrounds nearby, mostly BLM sites. I chose to stay at the one private camp, the Needles Outpost, which is right outside the park gate. This let me have some spectacular views as I watched the sunset that evening.
Getting There
The Needles District of Canyonlands National Park is accessed via highway 211 from U.S. Highway 191. The drive itself is spectacular, winding through Indian Creek Canyon and passing ancient rock art. Be sure to stop at Newspaper Rock to see it.
