Canyonlands National Park

[This post covers Saturday (8/29) evening through Monday (8/31) morning.]

Devil's Garden Campground, at the end of the 18 mile scenic drive in Arches, was perfect. Our site was very basic - had to park on the side of the road - but was at the top of a hill overlooking rock formations and the valley, and just a 100 yard walk to another arch.

Our roadside campsite

Karri hiked out one of the rock spines to catch the sunset

Moon rising behind the clouds; taken from our site

Over a couple beers, we confirmed our plan to skip the second night in Arches and head to an area of Canyonlands NP that was previously not on our itinerary. But not before taking in a few more of Arches' amazing sights.

Up at 5:45am Sunday, quick breakfast before biking ~.5mi to the Devil's Garden trailhead to hike to a few more arches.

Packing up before hitting the trail

Sunrise on the Devil's Garden trail

Devil's Garden is a 7.5mi loop, much of it on 'primitive' trail with warnings at the trailhead about the challenges - difficult to follow, climbing over rocks, high ledges(!), slippery, etc. We started on the section with the most arches and got to see 4 or 5 in the first 90 minutes, often having them all to ourselves. The trail was tough to follow at times and had a couple sections where we climbed on all fours. But it was worth it!

Landscape Arch

Partition Arch - my favorite

Partition Arch from the other side

We eventually came to a long, narrow - and high - rock spine leading to Double-O arch and decided this would be a good spot to head back. ;)

Got back to the trailhead around 8:15am, having hiked about 5mi. Biked back to camp, packed up and drove to Moab for a great brunch at Jailhouse Cafe (highly recommend!). Over brunch, we identified a few potential camping spots for the night - all on Bureau of Land Management property, which are first-come-first-served - then hit the road for the 45min drive. We were pleasantly surprised at our first stop, Horsethief Campground, to find only 2 or 3 of the 30+ sites occupied. We snagged a private spot looking out over the flatlands toward Canyonland's 'Islands in the Sky' entrance. Dropped a few items at camp, then headed to the park visitor center to firm up our plan for the afternoon.

Canyonlands is a massive, spectacular park with 3 separate areas. Islands in the Sky is the northwest section, with a 12-mile scenic drive above breathtaking, 2-tiered canyons with white-capped tower formations in the bottom section. First stop was Mesa Arch, the most famous spot in this section of the park.

Mesa Arch with the canyon in the background

Ms. Showoff peeking over the edge of the 2,000ft drop-off

We drove the length of the scenic drive, stopping at a few viewpoints, before reaching the end of the road at Grand Viewpoint Overlook.

Grand Viewpoint Overlook; tough to tell but we're at the top of a steep drop-off to the first canyon floor

We decided to hike the mile-long rim trail to the southern-most viewpoint of the upper canyon, where you get a 300+ degree view of the canyons and the junction of the Colorado and Green Rivers to the south. Mercifully, the rim trail never got closer than 6 or 8 feet from the ledge. ;)

Start of the trail; again tough to tell, but there's a ~1,000ft drop-off just behind her

View from the southern-most point, Colorado River in the distance (right of center)

We hiked back to the car, then drove to one more viewpoint to see the Green River to the west.

Green River in the distance

By this point, we were hot, tired, and felt we had gotten a pretty good (and unplanned!) taste of this beautiful region of the park, and so headed back to camp.

We got camp setup, then went for a quick bike ride - the campground is surrounded by mountain bike trails; we picked an easy and fun 1mi loop. Back at camp, we used our portable camp shower for the first time (a refreshing treat!), sat and enjoyed happy hour, then dinner around a campfire - our first on the trip as fire danger has been high and/or it's been too hot.

Happy, Happy Hour!

Getting dinner ready

After dinner, we sat out to watch the moon and stars for a while, then headed to bed. We decided to make Monday a little more leisurely, since we have 2 nights in the next section of Canyonlands - the Needles area. Up at 6:45, leisurely breakfast in camp, packed up and headed back to Moab by 8:30. Picked up a few groceries and more ice, then found a delightful, shaded city park to sit, clean up photos, make a couple phone calls, and write this post. :) Now on to Needles Outpost - our campground for the next 2 nights.

Song Spot: 'Laundry Room' by The Avett Brothers has been hanging around much of the last 2 days

Hiking: ~8mi

Biking: ~2mi