Island in the Sky (Utah Trip Day 4/Canyonlands NP)

On Monday (9/12/2005) we drove to Canyonlands NP. Its about an hours drive from Moab. That is, the Island in the Sky district of the park is an hours drive. Canyonlands NP is divided into three large districts separated by the Green and Colorado rivers. You cannot drive from one district to another within the park.

To start off we took a short hike at the top of cliffs called the Grand View Point. It offers contant breathtaking views along the cliff's edge. We then travelled to a thing called Upheaval Dome which is a geologic formation of uncertain origin (either a salt dome or a meteor crater). After Upheaval Dome we saw the Mesa Arch which is an arch right at the cliff side. My guess is that someone saw it from the canyon floor and then figured out how to get to it from the top since its not very visible from the upper plateau.

At the end of the day we went to Dead Horse Point State Park to view the sunset. There were lots of photographers but the sunset ended up being rather average. Still, a great view.

We definitely only scratched the surface of Canyonlands NP. Within the park is a 100 mile road called the White Rim Road for hikers, bikers and 4-wheelers that follows the edge of the "white rim" edge of the canyons. I would go again if I could. Here are a few sample pics below, and here is the gallery for Canyonlands.


On the cliffs at Grand View Point




Mesa Arch




View from Dead Horse Point

The Noble Arch (Utah Trip Day 2 and 3/Arches NP)

We spent Saturday and Sunday (9/10 and 9/11) visiting Arches National Park. Below are a few pics followed by a detailed trip report for Arches. Here is a bigger gallery.


Landscape Arch, may be largest in the world


Double Arch, my favorite


Delicate Arch in bad lightling

Saturday we hiked the Devil's Garden trail to Dark Angel. Its at the very northern end of the park road and goes past some of the major arches in the park. There were a number of offshoots on the trail including a "primitive" loop. We did not take all of them but did hike all the way to the end and back. The biggest highlight of the trail was the Landscape Arch which some argue is the largest known natural arch in the world. Mike concluded that it was "noble". I don't know what I was expecting but I was surprised that often the hike takes you right up and under the arches. (The only reason we couldn't approach Landscape Arch is because there was a major rock fall in the past 15 years.) This was especially true in later hikes. In the end we hiked just over six miles in three and a half hours. The hike starts out level but gets a little bit more challenging in the last third. Not a killer but a good workout and well worth it. The weather was beautiful, 83 degrees (but, you know, its a dry heat) with a constant breeze and not a cloud in the sky. Later, just before sunset, Mike and I took a drive to some of the overlooks and snapped a few pics in the "sweet light" of day's end.

Sunday was another beautiful day, though a bit hot if you were in a place with no wind. In the morning we walked around the Windows Section of the park in the morning and the Delicate Arch hike in the afternoon.

When we got to the Windows Section trailhead there was a ranger led hike just starting. It focused on the flora and fauna so we decided to take it. Good thing since it brought us around the back of the North and South Window arches. We might not have gone that way otherwise. The other highlight of this hike was Double Arch. You get to hike right up underneath and its quite dramatic. In all we hiked 2 miles in 2 hours and 25 minutes. This was a pretty light hike but overall had the highest density of arches and other dramatic views for the miles.

In the afternoon we hiked to Delicate Arch. Its a fairly short hike (1.5 miles one way) but has a pretty intense 500' elevation change at the end. Also, about half the trail is shielded from the wind and it was quite hot (up to 95 degrees). It was well worth it, though. Delicate arch stands by itself at the top and looks dramatic. We concluded that Landscape Arch was the most "noble", Double Arch the most "monumental" and Delicate Arch the most "celestial". (I don't know, ask Mike.)

You can see everything in Arches and hike all the trails in under three days. I found the arches as unique and inspiring as I had anticipated. It was well worth it even though we could have filled our week with the other parks.