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Canyons
Canyons at White RimTrip to Utah was planned two or more months back! This was the Memorial Day weekend and we wanted to make a longer trip rather than usual weekend activities in California.
We flew to Salt Lake City, Utah on Friday night; rented a Hummer 3 from the airport and drove south to Moab, UT. Utah is very famous for its national parks and desert. There are 4-5 national parks featuring red canyons. Canyonlands can be thought as a national park from the same family as Grand Canyon. Colorado River is the same primary reason for its formation.
Moab is a small town near Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park, 4 hours drive from Salt Lake City.
We had a two-night reservation at Moab Valley Inn. We reached there around 2am and crashed. Next morning, we woke up around 9am and got ready. Before reaching Canyonlands, we made a stop in Arches National Park Visitor Center to inquire about a guided hike. We got a Pizza to go from Pizza Hut Express and rushed to Canyonlands National Park.
There are four areas in Canyonlands: Island in the Sky, Needles, Maze, and Horseshoe Canyons. Island in the sky
Shafer Trail
Shafer Trail at White Rim Road is most accessible and visited area amongst the four. Only one area can be visited in a day; as all of them are not connected internally by road!
Maze is the most inaccessible amongst the four, and needs backcountry hiking and atleast three to four days to visit! Horseshoe Canyons is located approximately 100 miles away from others, and is accessible through hiking trails only. Horseshoe Canyon is very famous for “The Great Gallery”, which has number of ancient rock arts by the natives.
We decided to visit Island in the Sky. There is an approximately 30 miles long road leading into the national park. There are number of other 4x4 vehicle trails in Island in the sky, including a 90 miles long White Rim road. There are beginners to expert level off-road trails all over the national park! We had all intensions of experiencing atleast beginner to moderate level off-roading. That was the main reason for Hummer rental.
Island in the Sky is a broad mesa in the northern area of the park between Colorado and Green river. It has many overlooks of the White Rim and both the rivers which are more than thousand feet
Colorado River
Colorado River overlook at the White Rim Road below the island.
Our first stop was the Island in the Sky visitor center. We gathered some basic information and headed to the first overlook of Shafer trail. Shafer trail is the initial part of the White Rim road. The view of canyons was quite grand and inviting! We could see an unpaved trail circling down the rim and going straight in the valley. All of us thought, “Let’s skip other overlooks and go directly there!” And that’s what we did! We drove straight into the White Rim road. Soon, our hummer was trembling on the “off-road”! The views outside the window were breathtaking! We made so many stops along the way to take pictures and to enjoy the view of the canyons. Not many people were present on this trail; however, at times it was tricky to give way to the on-coming vehicle. The trail was quite rocky, not suitable for a vehicle with low clearance. This road is very famous amongst the mountain-bikers who take 2-3 days to finish the whole 90 miles road!
It took us around 1.5 hours to reach Musselman Arch, which is just 15 miles from the visitor center! We also stopped
at the Colorado River lookout along the way. Musselman arch was the first arch we visited on this trip! We could literally walk on this arch to take pictures!
Our return journey was surprisingly fast! It took us hardly 45 minutes to get back up to the visitor center! This White Rim trail was the highlight of the day! Sooooo beautiful!
It was already 5pm. We had another 2-3 hours before the sunset. We made a next stop at Mesa Arch. It has an easy 0.5 mile trail to the Mesa Arch from the parking lot. The view was beautiful! Took a lot of pictures... This place is really nice for the sunrise photography.
Our next stop was Grand View Overlook. This is the farthest you can go in Island in the Sky by the paved road. This overlooks provides a magnificent view of the canyons. On a nice day, you can also see some parts of the Needles district. There is also a one-mile long trail, which takes you further along the rim.
Our last stop was Green River overlook in the national park. This lookout provides you some really nice views of the Green
Mesa Arch
Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park River flowing through the valley. This is a very nice place to enjoy the sunset. However, it was quite cloudy that day, making it impossible to experience a full sunset.
We soon drove back to Moab. On the way, we stopped at couple of places to see the ancient rock-art. We also went to Poison Spider trail, which is considered moderate to tough off-roading trail. We saw couple of bikers coming back from the trail; and decided to check it out. That was some off-road experience!
We reached Moab around 9:30 pm and had dinner in a nice Thai restaurant named Singha. The food was quite delicious but a bit spicy. All of were really tired by the time we reached the hotel and fell asleep within minutes! We had another big day the next day…
If you are visiting:
How to get there:
• All the areas of the Canyonlands National Park are approximately 4 hours south of Salt Lake City. Best bet would be to fly to SLC, rent a car and get to Moab!
Where to stay:
• Lots of B&Bs and Inns in
Moab, UT; which is 25 miles south of Island
in the Sky and 60 miles North of Needles.
• Lots of Motels in Green River, UT; which is 60 miles north of Island in the sky.
• There are a few
campsites inside the Canyonlands National Park.
• There are NO motels/hotels inside the national park!
Where to eat:
• Number of
restaurants in Moab.
• Lots of options in Green River, UT; however, most of the closes around 9pm except a couple of 24 hours open restaurants.
• NO FOOD AVAILABLE IN THE NATIONAL PARK! Plan ahead.
What to do:
• One day is not even enough for one of the four districts of the park! So, don’t try to cover more than one district in one day.
• You can cover all the overlooks of the Island in the Sky within 2-3 hours.
• Get a 4x4 and drive to the White Rim road! A must do! Atleast drive to Musselman Arch on the White Rim road.
• There are number of guided off-road tours available. We didn’t try any; however, I don’t think you can go wrong with them!
• There are number of cruise/boat rides options in the Colorado River through the national
park. Light & Sound show by night is supposed to be very good!
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pandora05
non-member comment
nice pictures,and seems that this is a good trip destination.