Canyonlands National Park

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Canyonlands is roughly right across the street from Arches, so I was curious how the parks would differ. The answer is "quite a bit."


Utah is strange like that. You'll find yourself driving through some really interesting formations when all of a sudden they just stop. Or vice versa; the flat land will all of a sudden fall away and you'll be driving around, above, and through canyons. So the few miles between the two parks was enough to offer a completely different experience.

While Arches has over 2000 natural arches, Canyonlands has... uh, one? There is one famous one that we saw, and I'm not sure if there are any less famous ones or not. If so, they must not be very impressive because the park doesn't advertise them.

The main attraction at Canyonlands is... wait for it... canyons. But the twist is that much of the accessible portion of the park is on top of a mesa (the "Island in the Sky"), allowing for a spectacular view down into said canyons. As with all of the landscapes we've seen in Utah, pictures don't do it justice. You really have to see this stuff with your own eyes. It's remarkable.


This part of Utah was at the center of a uranium mining boom back when the government was buying up any and all uranium that it could find (use your imagination as to what they wanted it for). Little uranium was found within what are now the park boundaries (it wasn't a park at the time), but because of the mining activity, there are old mining roads crisscrossing the park. You can see one coming out of Jordan's head below.


Those with suitable vehicles were welcome to travel on those roads. We didn't not fall into that category.

Julie voted against driving this road

Most of our time at the park was spent on the scenic drive, popping out at each overlook to take it in. The kids and I did one hike to the top of a small rock formation ("Whale Rock"). We also did a short nature trail through a pine forest. And as we've somehow managed to do at many of the parks we visited, we hit the weather lottery. It was a gorgeous day for a park visit.
Location: Canyonlands National Park, Utah, USA

Comments

  1. Nana and GrampsNovember 1, 2021 at 3:30 PM

    I agree with Julie. I would NOT want to drive that road in the picture you took at Canyonlands National Park! Maybe if you were driving the new Jeep Rubicon that you are in the process of buying, but definitely not in your current Honda van.

    Gramps

    ReplyDelete

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