Canyonlands National Park Travel Guide

 goodfish Says:  We drove the 75 miles from Moab just to do this one as the raves were irresistible: it's consistently rated a 5-star for scenery, and some call it one of the best hikes in the U.S. It's also supposed to be the most popular route in the park although we saw less than a dozen... 

 goodfish Says:  I'd been crazy to do this hike for years and had some tense moments when heavy rains closed the access road with no clear idea when it might be passible again. But we got lucky: the crews had 'er in shape by the time we hit Hanksville. Yay. As beautiful as this canyon is... 

 goodfish Says:  Other than the Maze, the Horseshoe Unit is the most remote section of Canyonlands to access. This is a detached piece of the park some 120 miles from Island in the Sky (by the most commonly used west entrance) and the last 30 miles of that is dirt road: it is a long way from... 

 goodfish Says:  Besides the pictographs, one of the big paybacks of Horseshoe is the canyon itself. You descend 750 feet of winding dirt and slickrock to the floor and follow a wash between towering sandstone cliffs, past interesting alcoves and among rabbitbrush and wildflowers. Ancient... 

 goodfish Says:  This unit of Canyonlands is more remote than Island in the Sky: 75 miles from Moab and about 50 from Monticello. Hikes here are either very short or very long with just one 2.5 and another 6-miler in between. That said, if you're wanting to do more than one day of exploring,... 

 goodfish Says:  This isn't inside the park but along the road in so you can't miss it: look for the "Newspaper Rock" sign. Close to the parking lot is a large section of flat rock with 2,000 years of petroglyphs etched into its desert-varnished surface. Petroglyphs are found all over the... 

 goodfish Says:  This is a fun one with drop-dead fabulous panoramas. The trailhead for the 2-mile RT hike is at the southernmost end of the scenic drive, and the trail follows the mesa edge all the way to a narrow point. From there you can see for miles and miles in every direction: the... 

 goodfish Says:  This was a hoot as it's up the sides of two slickrock buttes to the ruins of some ancient grainaries and one heck of a view. It's bigger than it looks here - the picture was from some distance away - and the backside is nearly a sheer drop straight into the canyon. It's... 

 goodfish Says:  So as promised in the previous tip, here's the skinny on the Chesler Park portion of Chesler/Joint. This portion of the loop is about about 4.5 miles in length and a real honey. It has its share of big ups and downs but not much for elevation change: a good thing for this... 

 goodfish Says:  The camera's lens often can't capture the depth, breadth and impact of what the eye can see. Even worse, we ended up here under grey, rainy skies with just a few rare peeks of sunshine: whatcha gonna do. Out of desperation for a few interesting snaps, I set my Canon on vivid... 

 goodfish Says:  If you are planning on doing the Chesler/Joint Loop, this is a continuation of my previous tip with thanks again to David and Utah Trails for the borrowed link to the useful guide (below). At the end of a jeep road spur on the south side of Chesler park, you transition from... 

 goodfish Says:  Our poor national parks and other historic sites suffer a lot of abuse. It's not just the millions of feet that wear down the trails but the yahoos who think they need to leave their mark everywhere they go or take pieces of ancient history or geology home with them. It's... 

 goodfish Says:  You know the only 8 inches of precip I mentioned in that previous warning? On our 2011 trip, I think they got about half of that in just 4 days. Felt like it, anyway. A downpour that's no big deal anywhere else can be a very big deal in Southern Utah; all that rock leaves... 

 goodfish Says:  Dogs and other pets are not allowed on any of the trails, in the backcountry or in the visitor center, and can only be walked on the roads and parking lots. They have to be leashed at all times and can't be left in vehicles unattended. This park is a real scorcher in the... 

 goodfish Says:  Cairns, those little pyramids of stones along the trail, are there for two reasons:A. To keep you from getting lost and/or away from dangerous or unstable placesB. To keep you off cryptobiotic crust"Cryptobiotic" means "hidden life" and these lumpy, living colonies of... 

 goodfish Says:  Southern Utah averages only about 8 inches of rain a year and temperatures can easily top 100 degrees (+37 F) during the summer and early fall. You'll see reminders everywhere to drink plenty of water, pack at least a quart (short hikes) to a gallon (longer treks) along for...