Canyonlands National Park

Canyonlands Table of Contents

• Map of the national park
• Photographs
• Island in the Sky District
• Canyonlands tours
• The Needles District
• The Maze District
• Horseshoe Canyon
• Wildflowers of Canyonlands National Park
• Nearby places
• Similar places

Location

Map of Canyonlands National Park.

Photographs

All Canyonlands photographs.

Canyonlands - Island in the Sky

The northernmost district, Island in the Sky, is a high, wide plateau with commanding views across many miles of deep red rock canyons to the west, south and east. There are many overlooks, either beside the road or along short paths, and a good selection of hiking trails; some lead to places on the mesa top, while others descend the cliffs and reach the Green and Colorado rivers.

Hiking - trails on the Island in the Sky, from level walks to viewpoints at the edge of the plateau, to strenuous hikes down towards the rivers

Featured Island in the Sky Trails

Canyonlands Tours

Half day tours of the park, starting from Moab.

Canyonlands - The Needles

The second most popular section of the national park is The Needles, in the southeast; lower in elevation and with shallower canyons than the Island in the Sky but exposing a greater variety of rock formations. The Needles offers many opportunities for exploring and camping, and away from the entrance road, the area is little visited.

Hiking - trails in the Needles, along canyons, over ridges and to river overlooks; Chesler Park is the main location

Featured Needles Trails

Canyonlands - The Maze

The Maze section of Canyonlands, west of the rivers, is the wildest and remotest section of the national park, and possibly of all Utah. It is reached by first driving 50 miles along dusty unpaved roads starting from UT 24 between Hanksville and Green River, across relatively flat and completely uninhabited terrain to Hans Flat Ranger Station (as described in the route to the Blue John slot canyon). Beyond here, the roads deteriorate as the canyons approach; the Maze sits at the foot of the Orange Cliffs, which present quite a barrier to cross-country travel, but there is one entrance route (the Flint Trail), which is for 4WD vehicles only. The Maze itself is a jumble of six steep inhospitable canyons plus countless smaller ravines, centered on a vast area of convoluted fins and pinnacles known as Land of the Standing Rocks. The most popular trails (all unmaintained) are along Jasper Canyon, Shot Canyon, Water Canyon and several forks of Horse Canyon. Surrounding the Maze are other remote areas of rock with yet more canyons and arches, buttes and domes, especially to the southwest, on land which is part of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.

Canyonlands - Horseshoe Canyon

Horseshoe Canyon is a detached unit of Canyonlands National Park, northwest of the Maze on the west side of the Green River, and contains a five mile section of the deep box canyon of Barrier Creek, where many Indian pictographs were painted on rock walls around 3,000 years ago.

Canyonlands Wildflowers

Canyonlands - Nearby Places

• Arches National Park - thousands of arches in red Entrada sandstone
• Dead Horse Point State Park - elevated viewpoints of the Colorado River canyons

Canyonlands - Similar Places

• Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument - even larger region of spectacular cliffs and canyons