June 26, 2013
Canyonlands National Park is one of the largest in the Nation at 335,000 acres and the largest park in Utah. It is also one of the most desolate but it still manages to draw about 450,000 visitors a year. This huge park has 4 distinct regions, each of which has its own distinct character. We visited the Island in the Sky region. The other regions that we didn’t get to visit are Needles – for its tall monoliths, Maze, for its fin like structures and the River regions as both the Colorado and the Green River run through this park and are responsible for much of its development.
Island in the Sky is just that. It is a huge stone mesa that is more than 20 miles long and it sits at 5800 – 6100 feet altitude. This Park really begs to be seen on foot or by 4×4. We opted to see as much as we could from the many scenic overlooks. The views were in deed awesome. At the “Grand Viewpoint” we were standing at 6080 feet and peering down 2000 feet to a valley floor, only to see that valley floor give way to another canyon that descends another several thousand feet to the river floor. Unlike the Grand Canyon, where the opposite canyon rim is plainly in view – at Canyonlands, the vistas are huge and vast.
We will certainly always remember the amazing vistas that we were able to take in.
Tomorrow we are off to Denver.
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