Start Location: Moab, UT
Ending Location: Canyonlands NP
Miles Today: 101
Trip Miles: 1316
States Visited: 4
National Parks Visited: 2
Low Temp: 71.2° F
High Temp: 95.2° F
Min Elevation: 3965'
Max Elevation: 6281'
Route Map:
Utah Parks 2026 Day05
Today we visted Canyonlands National Park which is just a
short ride from Moab. Canyonlands is divided into 4 sections. We
visited the Island in the Sky section because it had a Visitor Center
and the most areas that were easily accessible. There is also the
Needles section, the Maze, and the River section. The Needles has a
Visitor Center as well and a short drive but the rest is all hikes. The
Maze section has no roads and is strictly for back coutry use. The
River section is composed of the Meander and Green Rivers which flow
into the Colorado River.
We drove all the roads in the park and stopped at numerous
pullouts and viewing areas. We also hiked to the Grand View Point
Lookout although we didn't climb to the last point after watching
numerous people who attempted the climb but had to turn back after
scrabbling on hands and knees. We didn't see anyone close to our age
climb to the last point. The hike was billed as 0.9 miles and it was
probably close to that. We also hiked a short trail to the Mesa Arch
viewpoint.
We found a nice spot for lunch and got a few
pictures of a bird that was just waiting for us to leave to see if we
left anything behind.
It was a good day but, like Arches, was pretty hot.
