Wanderlust: Canyonlands National Park

[If you missed Part 1 of our end-of-year trip, you can find it here.]

On day 3 of the trip (Wednesday), we made our first exploration of Canyonlands National Park. We decided to spend the middle (i.e. hottest part) of the day at our campsite, which, due to being a KOA, had a swimming pool. After that siesta hour of sorts, we headed to Canyonlands for the late afternoon and evening. First stop, Mesa Arch.

Canyonlands, like Arches National Park, has, well, arches. Just not as many. But what it does have in abundance is endless red rock canyons, stretching for what seems like forever into the distance. 

The only way you can tell the canyons don't last forever is because, if you look closely, you can see a faint glimmer of snow-capped peaks behind them.

For whatever reason, Canyonlands seems to be significantly less popular with the tourists than Arches. It's likely a combination of its larger size and farther drive from the interstate. But we found it to be dramatically underrated.

After Mesa Arch, we did several other short hikes, savoring the evening coolness and comparative solitude.

One of our mini-expeditions took us to Upheaval Dome, a 3-mile-wide, 1000-foot-deep crater.

The funny thing about Upheaval Dome is that no one really knows how it was formed. The general consensus is that it was caused by one of two things: pressure from a salt deposit left behind by an inland sea, or instability from a meteor crash.

After a picnic supper, we hiked up Whale Rock (the perfect vantage point) and settled in to watch the sunset.

Back rub chain amidst fierce wind.

On Thursday morning, we packed everything up and departed Moab. Since we had spent Wednesday exploring the Island in the Sky region of Canyonlands, we wanted to spend some time in the Needles region on Thursday. We settled on a hike called Slickrock trail, thusly named because most of the trail traversed smooth, vast, gently sloping swaths of sandstone. 

I didn't take any pictures on this hike. I'm prone to feeling that excessive photo-taking can actively distract me from the actual experience, so I make a point to take some time away from my phone in situations like these. It helps me to fully appreciate the place for what it is and what it makes me feel...avoiding the desperation of trying and failing to capture it on a screen.

But still, pictures are nice, so here's one I grabbed from the ProTrails website. You're welcome.

http://www.protrails.com/gallery/35/utah/canyonlands-national-park/slickrock-foot-trail#image-2

After that hike, we said goodbye to Utah and continued to the next segment of the trip. Part 3 coming soon...