Canyonlands National Park, Utah

Just 34 miles from Moab is Canyonlands National Park, the second park of my trip!

The park is divided into four districts by the Green and Colorado rivers: the Island in the Sky, the Maze, the Needles, and the rivers. I was at the northern section of Island in the Sky. The only other district accessible by paved road is the Needles, 34 miles from 191 north of Monticello. 

So my exploration of the park was mostly driving through. I did not have the energy for a long hike down into the canyon. I did hike to Mesa Arch (can't get enough of them!). I decided to do something a bit unique rather than the typical pose, as seen below, all perfectly safe.

View from on top of Mesa Arch

Green River Overlook

Visiting these parks takes a lot out of you. I was tired from getting in and out of the car, coupled with the heat, my energy was zapped. So I called it a day after checking out all the overlooks and went to find my campsite about 7 miles from the park entrance. I could finally enjoy the campsite in daylight since the previous nights I arrived at night and went straight to bed. I was able to write in my journal and read Edward Abbey's

The Monkey Wrench Gang

(set in southern Utah/northern Arizona-I passed through towns mentioned in the book, giving a picture to the name).

My campsite

Saturday I left my campsite headed down to the Needles district of the park. As I headed out of Moab I stopped to check out the Colorado River.

Walking bridge over the Colorado River

The calm Colorado before it gets to the Grand Canyon

After checking out the river I left Moab and Arches, confident that I would be back one day to see it again. Once I got to the turn off to Canyonlands Needles district, I found that I did not have enough gas to make it out there and back and to the next town so I kept going down to Monticello and filled up there. I didn't have a pressing urge to go back to Needles but I also didn't want to go back to Flagstaff a day early so I looked at my atlas and found another national park that looked nearby, about an hour away, so I took off East to Colorado...