The Great South West: Canyonlands National Park

... Continued from The Great South West: Arches National Park

Map of Island in the Sky as seen in Chart Sack app

Canyonlands National Park lies next to Arches National Park and covers a vast land area around the Colorado River. We allocated two days to explore it, but because of approaching weather, we cut short our stay in Moab, and decided to cover just Island in the Sky portion of it. We bundled the visit with Dead Horse Point State Park in that day. Hopefully we will be able to return one day to explore the Maze and the Needles area in the park, and maybe get dirty on the dirt roads down into the Canyons.

It was clear and sunny when we drove from Moab to Mesa Arch in Canyonlands. We stopped in the way to see the deep canyon from Shafer Trail. Shafer Trail road was closed due to recent snow storm. We could see ice on this winding, steep dirt road, and would have avoided it even if it was open.

Mesa Arch at Sunrise

We reached Mesa Arch from the road via an easy quarter mile hike. The sun had risen and it was well above the horizon, yet we got the orange glow of the sun in the arch. This is a must see location in Canyonlands at sunrise. The deep views of the Canyon from the arch create a perfect photo composition.

Standing on Mesa Arch and Looking into the Canyon

We drove from Mesa Arch to Grand View Point Overlook. I would skip the Grand View Point Overlook if I have Dead Horse Point in the itinerary, as the later one has more majestic views of the Canyon (albeit of different areas).

Grand View Point Overlook

We drove back to the Mesa Arch, then to Upheaval Dome. The Whale Rock hike near the Upheaval Dome looked interesting, but we skipped it in favor of the Upheaval Dome trail.

One Side of the Crater

There is a moderate hike from the trail head to the Upheaval Dome First and Second Overlooks. Upheaval Dome is a huge crater, also called the Belly Button of Utah. We hiked and back from the Second Overlook with much exploration left to some other day around the round trail along the edges of the impact crater.

There is a steep trail that "falls" down from the First Overlook into the crater. Its worth trying if you are not afraid of steep descents on narrow trails.

Sitting on Viewpoint in the "Center" of the Crater

We drove back to Mesa Arch, then to the Dead Horse Point State Park. The Dead Horse Point Overlook offers the most stunning Canyon view. This is a must see area near Island in the Sky portion of the Canyonlands. The Canyon below is deep, and the stone wall at the top edge of the Canyon is quite scary to stand on, yet we managed to get some pictures taken there.

At Dead Horse Point State Park Visitor Center

Dead Horse Point Viewpoint Edge Wall

Canyon from Dead Horse Point Overlook

There was not a single human being in the park except us four.