The park has four sections for which you can go and have fun. The one near Moab, UT is called Island in the Sky, then further South you have The Needles, and lastly is The Maze that is South and West of Moab. The last section is called Horseshoe Canyon but that is separated from the 3 main sections. The Needles is the section of the park that I am staying this trip and that is what I will discuss here. The drive in was longer than I anticipated but once you get off of Utah 191 you still have another 35 miles to drive before coming to the park. Be sure to have a full tank when leaving Moab as there are not many fuel stations along 191 to the park entrance. When you exit UT 191 onto UT 211 that road leads to the park. Along the road you will see many beautiful canyon walls and rock formations, but please exit the road to take photos. Additionally, along the way you will see a few areas to go camping with names like Superbowl, Creek Pasture and Hamburger Rock. I however kept driving until I came to the National Park and staying the the Needles Campground, more on it below. One other thing to see along the way into the park is called Newspaper Rock and here you are able to see some Petroglyphs. The Needles area has plenty of trails for hiking, or 4 wheel driving, even some dirt roads for 2 wheel drive. The park was in its down season when I arrived in mid June as the temperatures can get above 100 degrees in the campground above 110 degrees when hiking on the trails. The NPS puts warnings up everywhere to bring plenty of water on your hike and you should have 1 liter per hour of hiking you are going to do as a rule of thumb. The three areas of the park are not accessible from within the park to each other so if you want to see all three it is drive around the park. The Sky Visitor Center to Moab is 32 miles and that is north of the city, while The Needles Visitor Center is 76 miles from Moab and is South. The distances between these two entrances is a few hours drive time. If you have a heavy duty 4 wheel drive vehicle the park has many roads and even campgrounds for you to utilize.
Lost Canyon Trail – The trailhead I choose was just to the right of the Ranger talk campfire entrance. You can also take a trailhead from Loop B but I was in A so I choose this as my starting point. The trail started out being very sandy but quickly got to being some hiking over large rocks. After about 1 mile there is a “Y” in the trail and heading to Lost Canyon you head to the left side. The right side will take you back to the campground at a bit over 6 miles. Onward over the large boulders I went towards the Lost Canyon. The trail also was on the ground in the sand and even some spots it was packed sand. At the “Y” the Lost Canyon was 1.5 miles away and I came to a point in the trail on boulders that I decided it was best for me to turn back. I was only about 0.25 miles from the end. My rational was that if something happened to me on the walk up/down the boulder that I would have nobody to help me and in the 100 degree heat, I would not last long. Am I realizing I am not invincible? I did stop and enjoy some the rocks round me for a few minutes enjoying the views. The 2.6 mile hike one way turned into a 2.3 mile hike. The trail is well marked with either a warn path on the dirt or with the stacks of stones over the boulders. If I was hiking with someone else or if there had been anybody on the trail I think the last bit of the hike would have been fun. The altitude did present some issues with deep breaths. Overall the hike had little elevation gain/loss and except for the last boulder crossing it was enjoyable by myself, even with the 100 degree heat.
Slickrock Trail – The trailhead is at the end of the road in Canylond Needles District. The parking area is not big on the right hand side of the road but if you find a spot you will then be able to walk to the trailhead. The trail is 2.4 miles long in a loop and it offers wonderful 360 degree views. The trail has 73 feet of elevation gain/loss durning the 2.4 miles. The trail is mainly over rock and the hiking is not hard but at times the surface is uneven and could be slick if wet. During the trail you are able to get some beautiful views and there are even some view points enabling you to get out and see a bit more of those views. The view points also offer some extra exploring if you are so interested in the additional exploration on the trail. The view points and trail are well marked. The view points have signs saying view point and the number of the viewpoint while the trail is marked with stacked stones. I was taken in by the view and go off the trail as I was distracted. Be sure to stay on the trail so you don’t get hurt or more importantly don’t heart the living things on the trail.
Pothole Point Trail – The main road has a turn out for this little hike/viewpoint. The trail is a loop of 0.6 miles and it is almost a flat hike. As the name will say the rock you are walking on has many potholes, like the Dalton Highway. You can see where these pot holes used to have water and there are thousands of these pot holes along the trail. A nice thing about the trail is the views and that it is a wide open space allowing views of The Needles and much of the area. You can even see mountain in the distance with snow and when it is 100 degrees that is a nice cooling thought. The trail is not one to take if you are looking to get your mileage in today but is a nice point to stop and smell the roses while driving on the park road. The stop for Pothole Point is the stop before Slickrock and the end of the park road.
Roadside Ruin Trail – On the main park road when coming in this is the first way point along the road past the visitor center. The trail is 0.3 miles long and is fairly flat. The trail is mainly dirt on the way to the site and the way back is over some rock. The elevation gain/loss is 11 feet and with the distance even in the 100 degree day the hike is doable. Now the ruin is a bit anti-climatic in that it is a small storage area built under a rock overhang. The cool thing is that someone built this little storage area a few hundred years ago by some indigenous people to the area.
Newspaper Rock – The way point on the road into the Needles District of Canyonland is well worth the 15 min stop to check it out. When you stop at the way point and park on the side that is opposite of the vault toilet you will take a short path, 20 yards, to a rock. The rock with have petroglyphs! To say that is cool seeing how people communicated is wonderful. I am thankful for the ability to see this while in Canyonland Needles District.
Needles Campground – The campground has two loops an A and B loop. The A loop has some great views and the sites are far apart while the B loop has more shade but the sites are very close together. Loop A also has the campfire area for the Ranger talks, had 2 in the 3 nights I stayed at the campground. There are a combination of vault and flush toilets in both of the loops. The campground did not have a host so I was able to stay in the host site but not use the water, it was against the law per a Ranger. No reservations needed due to the time of the season and it being hot in Canyonlands. Having a pick of the spots was almost true as the campground was maybe 1/4 full the entire time I stayed.
