Going with the Flow in Canyonlands NP - Needles Area

[We're back at our favorite city park in Moab - our 3rd and final stop in this town that sits in the middle of Arches NP, Canyonlands NP and Deadhorse State Park. This post covers Mon 8/31-Wed 9/2.]

After a relaxed morning, we reluctantly left our campsite in Horsethief CG - so peaceful and beautiful - and headed back to Moab to re-stock on a few food items and ice, before heading south to the Needles portion of Canyonlands NP. The Colorado and Green Rivers intersect to form a 'Y' which divides the park into 3 main sections. Islands in the Sky is the northern section, Needles is the southeast section. The southwest section - the Maze - will have to wait for another trip.

On the road to Needles, a few miles before the park entrance, we passed Newspaper Rock - a large petroglyph with carvings believed to date from B.C. times to around 1300 AD. Crazy.

Newspaper Rock (I couldn't find the sports section)

We drove about an hour (total from Moab) to Needles Outpost, a private campground just outside the park boundary. We dropped a few things at our site, then headed to the park and visitor center. At the park entrance, we were pleasantly surprised to learn the park campground had availability (sites are first-come...; we had assumed they'd be full). After a quick stop at the visitor center, we hustled over to the campground and realized all but a small handful were available. Staying here would save us 3+ miles of biking or driving to get to our trailhead. We decided to sacrifice the $45 we had paid for 2 nights at Needles Outpost, picked a great spot in the park, then retrieved our items from Needles Outpost and setup camp.

View from our site

We drove the length of the scenic road and stopped at a trailhead for a short hike just as some storm clouds came into view. We decided to wait and see what developed, ultimately deciding to skip the hike and drive a few miles back to camp. With an early start to a long, tough hike planned for Tuesday morning, neither of us minded a day off from hiking and an early-to-bed night.

Storm clouds made it to our site just as we were cleaning up from a delicious chicken taco dinner. We could see lightning in the distance and hear thunder echoing through the canyon as we covered our gear and climbed in the van. We dozed off, waking up a few times as the thunder and lightning - and a brief, light rain - moved over our site. Up at 6 on Tuesday to clear skies and a few lingering stars, just in time to watch a spectacular sunrise.

Sunrise from camp as we got ready to hit the trail

We walked ~.5mi from camp to the trailhead (much easier and quicker than biking from our original campsite) and set off on what we anticipated would be about a 14 mile hike. Needles has a set of interconnected trails that allow you to 'build your own' adventure. Our goal - based on reviews and recommendations from the visitor center ranger - was to get to Chesler Park loop, but first we had to hike 5+ miles to get there! The trail was unlike any we had done on this trip - more technically challenging with stretches of scrambling up/down rocks, along ledges, through tight canyons. It challenged both of us... and was really fun! [Fortunately, the heights/ledges didn't bother me - phobias are, apparently, fickle.]

Climbing up a narrow canyon

A long section of the hike was over moon-like cratered rock

Climbing a rock face

An elbow-width passage; Karri's phobia? Claustrophobia - she's a trooper!

Rock cairns marked the trail

That's Islands in the Sky (where we had been 2 days earlier) in the background; ~15 miles away (a 2+ hour drive around the canyon) and ~1200ft higher elevation; the arrow marks the Grand View outlook we hiked to

At just under the 6 mile mark, we reached the Chesler Park loop where the trail opens up to a giant grassy/scrub field surrounded by large, sandstone rock formations. 

Chesler Park rock formations

About half a mile onto the loop, we encountered the first(!) hiker we had seen all morning - a guy who was camping at one of the (few) nearby backcountry sites. At the 7 mile (total) mark, we decided to turn back - completing the loop would have made for a 17 mile hike, it was getting warmer, and we felt the first mile gave us a great taste of the loop. We decided to take a different route back - similarly technical and also very fun. 

More scrambling

View from our lunch-stop spot

We finally got back to camp around 3:45 - hot, tired and exhilarated - both feeling a great sense of accomplishment. We took much-needed camp showers, then put our feet up for happy hour. After a delicious pasta dinner, we mustered the energy to scramble up the rocks immediately behind our campsite for a glimpse of the sunset.

Last rays of sun from above our campsite

In bed at 8, woke to the sun hitting the van as it peaked over the horizon - around 7am! Breakfast, packed up and headed to Moab. Restocked our ice and grabbed yummy quesadillas at Quesadilla Mobilla (thanks nephew Jeffrey for the tip!).

We're on our way to Dead Horse Point State Park - back near Islands in the Sky - for our final night of camping in Utah and, likely, our last night of camping for this trip. Hard to believe this adventure is coming to an end.

Song Spot: Walking on the Moon (The Police) and Don't You Look Back (Augustines) on the hike to/from Chesler Park

Hiking: 14.25mi (Tue)

Biking: <1mi (Tue)