Day 53: The aptly named Canyonlands
National Park #22
Sprained Ankle #2.5
At this point in the trip, I was only semi-joking that I was canyon’d out. That if you’ve seen one canyon, you’ve seen them all. Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, red canyon, blue canyon. Here a-canyon, there a-canyon, everywhere a-canyon canyon. AND YET, Canyonlands was still surprising and beautiful. There are actual canyons within canyons within canyons. National Parks just never let you down friends. Trust that.
There are four distinct and entirely separate sections of Canyonlands: Island in the Sky, the Maze, Needles, and the combined rivers. Like any good newbies, we started with Island in the Sky. We only had a day here so we did the classics.
First the .5 mile Mesa Arch trail. It’s easy and beautiful so you gotta get there early before the Instagram influencers arrive and take up the entire Mesa Arch space for their dumb-ass photo shoots. I’m not kidding, that happened.
Second we hit up Upheaval Dome, which was a quick 2 mile trek to see either a) a massive and ancient meteor crater or b) an eroded salt dome (learn more here). I prefer to believe, and recent science suggests, that we are talking about an ancient meteor crater, and damn if that isn’t cool to say. It was also cool to see.
Then we pulled to the side of the road for lunch where you really can’t beat this view:
Socially Distant Dining
To close out the day we made a quick, accidental stop by the White Rim Trailhead, instead of the Grand View Trail we meant to visit. White Rim was gorgeous and I’m glad we did some of it, because no sooner did we get to Grand View Trailhead than my ankle decided to betray me and sprain itself AGAIN. Despite this unfortunate close to Canyonlands, we loved it. Just take it easy with the rocks.
What you need to know:
Canyons, Canyons Everywhere!
There are four districts you can visit. Islands in the Sky is the most popular and iconic, but if you have time the others are well worth the trip.
Plan to spend numerous days in the Moab area, and of course hit up Arches as well.
Parking is somewhat limited, so you’ll want to get here early to hit the bigger attractions like Mesa Arch.
Resist the urge to push Instagram influencers into the canyons. This is not allowed in national parks.
Cell service is spotty but available at some of the points. Wi-Fi is available at the Visitors Center.