"A crumbling, decaying beauty, a vision of ancient earth." That's how the Lonely Planet guide describes Canyonlands, the largest and wildest of Utah's national parks.
We left our hotel in Moab early, and after a quick breakfast of coffee and a protein bar, hit the road to the park's visitor's center. Dark clouds loomed over us as we drove along the highway towards Canyonlands, but a rainbow broke through in what we hoped was a good portent for our adventure ahead.
Canyonlands National Park is made up of three distinct sections completely cut off from one another by the Colorado and Green Rivers. It is impossible to get from one of these districts to the other without a multi-hour drive around the park to another entrance.
The Maze District (a labyrinthine expanse of sheer cliffs and winding canyons) is extremely wild and dangerous and off-limits to most without a guide or the proper permits. The Needles District offers a striking landscape made of sharp red rock spires rising from the desert floor. This area, too, comes with its own risks.
We decided to visit Island in the Sky, the third and most accessible area in the park, just a 40-minute drive from Moab.
Island in the Sky offers a breathtaking vantage point overlooking sweeping panoramas that showcase the stunning beauty of Utah's high desert.
The views really are magnificent, and it's no wonder that Canyonlands was chosen as one of America's national parks. The story of how the park came to be is pretty interesting too.
A paved road drives through a portion of the Island in the Sky District, although most of the park is still wild terrain with very few rugged unpaved roads. From atop the mesas, we could see some of these roads far, far below in the canyons, and occasionally could see the tiny ant-like cyclists or off-roaders braving the harsh environment and difficult terrain.
The most eye-catching thing that we saw near the visitor's center was the infamous Shafer Trail.
The trail is ancient. Indigenous people used it as a way to access the top of the canyon for better foraging in wintertime, and during the uranium boom in the mid-20th century, the trail was used by mining trucks. Now, it's how the bravest of adventurers access most of Canyonlands backcountry trails.
This iconic and terrifying road descends 1500 feet from the top of the canyons to the valley below. The unpaved road is steep, narrow, and features hairpin switchbacks, and as we watched, we could see a few vehicles barely crawling along on their way down the canyon, hugging tight to the cliffside the whole time.
I certainly wouldn't like to try driving it.
Grand Viewpoint
We drove down the park's scenic highway to the Grand Viewpoint, the furthest part of the district that we could access. We parked the car and set out to walk the Grand Viewpoint Trail, which runs along the rim of the canyon offering some of the park's most spectacular views. The Grand Viewpoint really lives up to its name.
The trail is about 2 miles there and back, and if there hadn't been several other people walking along the rim, it might have been difficult to follow. The trail was marked only by a number of intermittent cairns indicating that we were still heading the right direction.
As we walked, it suddenly began to rain! The rain wasn't heavy, but it was cold and very unexpected. Not only were we in the middle of the desert, but rain hadn't been forecasted at all for the entire week.
It ended up raining on and off throughout the day, but it kept the weather cooler, and the cloud covering made for some really interesting vistas.
We had to be careful to stay on the trail. Not only was it easy to get confused (which we would do on the return journey), but straying too far from the designated path can damage one of the park's strangest and most delicate ecosystems: the biological crust.
Composed of a diverse community of microorganisms, including cyanobacteria, lichens, mosses, and fungi, this crust forms a thin layer on the soil surface. It helps stabilize the soil, reduces erosion, and enhances water retention, making it vital for plant growth in these harsh environments. It can take years or even a decade or two for the crust to reform after being damaged, so it's very important to watch your step!
The rain was starting to come down a bit heavier by the time we reached the end of the trail, so we turned around pretty quickly to head back to the car. On the way back, we were following several other hikers without really paying attention, and somehow found ourselves off the trail and on a higher part of the cliff than we had been before.
In the end, we had to scramble back down the hill to rejoin the marked trail. Luckily, it wasn't too hard to find our way back, and when you're skirting the edge of a cliff face, there's really only one direction to go.
Lesson learned... navigate for yourself and don't rely on the competence of other hikers to know the way!
Needless to say, we made it back to the car none the worse for wear. Our first hike complete, we stopped for a quick picnic lunch at the car before setting out to see what else we could discover at the Islands in the Sky.
Green River Overlook
The Green River Overlook - appropriately enough - looks over the Green River, one of the two rivers responsible for trifurcating the wilderness of Canyonlands. From where we stood, we could look down into the valley to see the river and its verdant banks twisting through the otherwise arid and rocky desert landscape.
Mesa Arch
We would be seeing plenty of arches the next day, but one of Canyonlands' most famous landmarks is the Mesa Arch.
Known geologically as a "pothole arch", Mesa Arch acts like a window framing a steep drop and sprawling view of the valley far, far below. It was just a short hike to the arch and was definitely worth the detour.
Though Canyonlands may seem like a harsh and inhospitable environment, it has an abundance of desert life. The park is home to all sorts of desert-dwelling animals including mule deer, coyotes, porcupines, desert cottontails, black-tailed jackrabbits, and many different types of bird (although because the temperatures are falling in Utah, we didn't see as many species of birds as I had expected).
After a long day of hiking, we returned to our hotel tired and hungry. Moab is a small town of around 5,000 people, but doubles in size due to visitors during tourist season. Upon a recommendation from the lady working the front desk at our hotel, we had dinner at 98 Center, a local Vietnamese restaurant, where we ordered a big bowl of fusion bánh mì nachos to share.
Our adventure would continue the next day at Arches National Park, home to an otherworldly desert landscape and one of my all-time bucket list travel destinations.
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