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Canyonlands, Utah

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Shafer Canyon as seen from Island in the Sky, Shafer Trailhead.

Canyonlands is the biggest national park in Utah and some say the best, though the BugForce would disagree - as tourist sissies we prefer our rocks to be in funny shapes, colours and easily accessible.
Canyonlands is, however, over 500 sq miles [800sq kms] of undeveloped wilderness - rocks, rivers, wildlife and plants interrupted by only two proper campgrounds and a couple of short paved roads, so for serious solitude seekers this is the park.

Canyonlands is split into three districts, Island in the Sky, The Needles and The Maze:

The first, Island in the Sky, is where day trippers go, the highest mesa of the park with the highest number of visitors, a 20 mile paved road and a decent campground, though no water is available.
Views over ragged ravines and other mesas can stretch up to 100 miles, while one section of the Island sports a geological curiosity, a huge crater - ironically called the Upheaval Dome. Geologists can't decide if the crater was caused by underground salt deposits pushing the sandstone upwards or a meteor impact.
The Island's 100 mile White Rim Road is one of the best mountain biking and 4WD trails in the country and will take at least two days.

Candlestick Tower on the right, Cleopatra's Chair and Ekker Butte on the left.

The Needles district offers many options scenically, but is not good for bikes or short-term visitors. This is hiking or serious 4WD territory and those with the time and right kit will discover a land of pinnacles, spires and grand arches bereft of tour buses, RVs and travelling sissies. The sissies can, however, sneak in the back way on the paltry 8 miles of hardtop and have a look at one of the best examples of petroglyphs in the area, Newspaper Rock.

The Maze is the wildest district of all, 30 sq miles of weird sandstone formations, a 600ft descent and very little water. Only the toughest survive.

Upheaval Dome, Island in the Sky's favourite walk.

No one knows why the layers of rock in this area are tilted and heaved out of place. A sudden meteor strike 60 million years ago blasting out a 3/4 mile deep crater or a slow rise of vast quantities of trapped salt? Pass. Gives me heartburn just thinking about it.

Various Colorado River canyons as seen from Grand Viewpoint Trail, Island in the Sky.

A popular alternative to all that heat, rock and desert ambience is to plunge onto one of the two rivers - the Green or the Colorado - in rubber rafts, kayaks, canoes or even jet boats and spend the day surrounded by water.

Bugbog has pictures in this gallery only of Island in the Sky and Newspaper Rock. Time was not on our side. And we're sissies.

Newspaper Rock, in the only easy-to-access section of The Needles district shows 2,000 years of doodles.

Newspaper Rock, The Needles, Canyonlands, Utah.

This rock was etched with drawings [probably] by prehistoric people such as the Fremont and Pueblo cultures, as well as more recent Navajo and even paleface Anglos.
There is no way to precisely date rock art, nor are experts sure of the purpose of the drawings. They could be doodles, stories, hunting magic, or just The Needles Times, latest edition.

END OF CANYONLANDS.

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