Moab, Utah

Red Rock Gateway to Arches & Canyonlands National Parks

We stayed 5 nights, ~20 minutes from Arches, ~1 hour from Canyonlands-Island in the Sky, ~1.5 hours from Canyonlands-Needles. We used pretty much 4 full days for our…

Visits to these 2 new National Park Sites:

• Arches National Park (#371), a Red-Rock Wonderland, is a landscape of contrasting colors, land forms, and textures unlike any other. The park has over 2,000 natural stone arches, hundreds of soaring pinnacles, massive rock fins, and giant balanced rocks.
  
  Day 1, we arrived before 7:30 and started driving to the end of the Scenic Road at Devils Garden, stopping at most overlooks and doing 3 hikes to see arches (2 over 3 miles). We ended the day driving out the spur road to the Delicate Arch Overlook and stopping at the Visitor Center, not leaving until 5:00. WOW! Really. WOW! It is amazing. There is a reason Arches is one of “The National Parks to visit” (even if you have to deal with crowds…not TOO bad).
  
  Day 3, we went in after the morning rain, primarily to hike the Park Avenue Trail and to drive out the spur road to the Windows section and hike around the North and South Windows and out to the Double Arch.

• Canyonlands National Park (#372), is a wilderness of canyons, buttes, and spires carved by the Colorado River and Green River. The park is divided into four distinct districts with similar desert ecosystems; no roads join them together. (We likely will never visit the Maze in the southwest, the least accessible district of Canyonlands, nor the Colorado and Green Rivers which wind through the heart of Canyonlands.)
  
  Day 2, we visited the Island in the Sky mesa in the north, which rests on sheer sandstone cliffs over 1,000′ above the surrounding terrain and is the easiest area of Canyonlands to visit. We woke up very early to get into the park and hike (0.3 miles) to the Mesa Arch before sunrise, to catch the glow of sunrise on it’s underside. Then back to the Visitor Center for orientation and spent the day driving the Scenic Road to the south and north, stopping at all overlooks and taking 4 hikes, ~5.5 miles (to Mesa Arch twice). We spent 6:30 am to 5:4 5 pm in the park. Its own kind of WOW!
  
  Day 4, we visited the Needles, which form the southeast corner of Canyonlands and was named for the colorful spires of Cedar Mesa Sandstone that dominate the area. Again, we drove all the scenic road, stopping at all overlooks, and taking 4 hikes to see the sites. Less time needed in this section of the park. Good, since it was ~3 hours RT to get there…though gorgeous scenery, with a stop at Newspaper Rock!

On our way to Nevada

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