Blogs from Canyonlands National Park, Utah, United States, North America - page 2

Canyonlands National Park has some of the most remote and difficult-to-reach sections of all the national parks, accessible only to hikers, boaters, bikers, and 4 wheel drive vehicles. Luckily for us, there is a paved road to Grand View Point, with several lookout points along the way. We left our campground under grey skies, but when we got to the top of the mesa, we had a lot of sun. The vista is 360 degrees and reaches 100 miles, so it was fascinating to see blue skies mixed in with ominous thunderclouds. This afternoon as I write this, we are having a thunderstorm. I thought we were in a desert! Maybe this is normal, but I think not, judging from the devastation this weather system has brought to Colorado as well as to New Mexico, and ... read more

After a brekki of a short stack of pancakes ( that was actually the smallest portion I could get and it was massive) - we set off to Canyonands Nat Park which is not far from Moab. We entered by the northern entrance - this really is like a wilderness - as far as the eye can see mesas, and canyons for 100 miles and more. The Green River and the Colorado have carved out these canyons and rocky plateaus. Water and gravity have cut into the flat layers of sedimentary rocks forming mesas, buttes, fins arches and spires. The 2 main canyons of these rivers meet and form what is called " Island in the Sky" so you are driving on top of this looking down into the plateaus and canyons...oh and there are a ... read more

Obwohl ich in Canyonlands National Park schon gewesen bin, war es diesmal erneut super beeindruckend. Im noerdlichen Distrikt namens "Island in the Sky" steht man an einer Klippe, 300m ueber einer riesen Ebene in die dann wiederum der Colorado und der Green River Schluchten gefressen haben. Tags zuvor haben wir verschiedene Felsboegen im Arches National Park bewundern koennen. Der groesste, Landscape Arch, schmueckt das Wappen von Utah. Praktischerweise hat Frieder eine Nationalpark-Karte von seinem Onkel abgestaubt, so dass wir in alle Nationalparks umsonst kommen. In Boulder haben wir uns noch mit allerlei Nuetzlichem eingedeckt, wie Camping-Geschirr und -stuehlen, einem Gaskocher, sechs grosse Kisten um unser Zeug im Auto zu sortieren und fuer jeden ein Kissen. Die Kisten kann man unter das im Baumarkt gebastelte Brett im Kofferraum schieben. Oben drauf liegen die Crashpads und Is... read more

Tuesday, May 8th It is 66 degrees this morning at 10:30 with mostly blue skies. Starting mileage is 25205 from Wind Whistle BLM campground. I am going to cover this huge area briefly as my verbal descriptions of these lands, created by upheavals of multiple layers of sandstone, once a gigantic seabed, and then carved and shaped by wind, water, and gravity, cannot do them justice. These flat of layers of sedimentary rock have been cut into hundreds and hundreds of canyons, mesas, buttes, fins, arches, and spires. Five National Parks can be found in Southern Utah, an additional 6 parks are National Monuments, 9 million acres are National Forests, and lastly, 23 million acres are managed by the Bureau of Land Management . Obviously we had a lot to see and do in this region ... read more

Sept 2 - Canyonlands National Park, Utah to Rifle, Colorado Beautiful morning here. I drove from Cortez , Colorado to Moab, Utah yesterday. It was relatively cool in Colorado and I was much surprised to find out when I got to Moab that it was very hot. I had expected that at this higher altitude it would be cooler. Still it was tolerable once I got to Willow Flat campground in the “Island in the Sky” which is a high Mesa at 6000ft surrounded by canyons on each side except for a narrow neck of land not much wider than the road connecting it to the “mainland”. I got lucky and got a campground here as there are only 12 spaces. I used my National parks pass to get in and the campsite only cost $10.00. ... read more