The Four Corners: Canyonlands National Park
Canyonlands NP — A Quick Reconnaissance of the Wilderness of Rock
Originally Posted at “Old Ones Dream” April 30, 2014.
After completing our quick driving tour of Arches National Park in the early morning of April 6, 2014, we drove US 191 north for 7 miles and Utah 313 south for 25 miles to the Visitor Center for the Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands NP. We ate our picnic lunch and began our driving and walking tour at the Shafer Canyon and the Neck overlooks at about noon. Five awe filled hours later we were sure that the several Districts of Canyonlands deserved at least three days of our time not counting any time that we wanted to spend hiking. So this trip would simply qualify as reconnaissance. We took the following photos that afternoon in the Island in the Sky District.
Mesa Arch
View through Mesa Arch
Photos Credit: Old Ones Dream
The snow capped mountains in the background of many of these photos are Mt. Waas, Mt. Tomasaki, and Mt. Peale, all above 12,000 feet and part of the La Sal Mountains, the second tallest range in Utah.
For shock and awe, the Grand Canyon and Glacier National Park win hands down; but we suspect that, up close and personal, the Canyonlands NP experience would become a spiritual one if you had the time (three days plus the time spent hiking) to immerse in this wilderness. At the end of this day we had only toured some of one of the three sections of the park.
CanyonlandsIsland in the Sky Map
The Island in the Sky District
Hiking Information - The Island in the Sky District
So after this, our 2014 reconnaissance of our remainder points of interest in the Four Corners, our remainder to-do-list would resemble the following:
Spend several days at the Chaco Culture National Historic Park (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Spend a day (or more) at Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park and surrounds
Return to Canyonlands National Park for a week of hiking, and
Return to Mesa Verde National Park (UNESCO World Heritage Site) for a week of hiking.
The Four Corners remains one of my favorite places.