Exploring the Land of Canyons

Waking up, we immediately started our journey to Utah. The drive before the border of Colorado and Utah is one that I’ll never forget; on every side of us were mountains of red rocks. You could just watch as the landscape changed throughout the roads. One of our last moments in Colorado consisted of us getting stopped in a cattle herd! The cattle were being moved along by horseback riders. As they were crossing the road we rolled the windows down, put the van in park, shut it off, and watched as that moment unfolded into a fun memory. Once we got to our next state, we headed for Moab!

It seemed as if the temperature drastically changed entering Moab. Even though it wasn’t too hot, it was much hotter than it had been in the mountains and definitely hotter than it was when we left Michigan in the early spring time. Here we got our first (and only) car wash of the trip, and after hitting a little market and driving through town a bit, we headed to Canyonlands National Park.

Canyonlands is split into three regions: the Needle, the Island in the Sky, and the Maze. We ended up going to the Island in the Sky region because it had the most to offer for our day trip. Our first stop was quite the popular one. We walked to Mesa Arch which is a short half mile walk littered with desert plants. The change in terrain was really fun because the whole time we were just climbing over rocks. Although the arch was crowded with an imaginary line of people waiting to get their photo taken, I think it was worth the stop. Through the arch you can see the vast landscape where it drops off into a huge canyon.

Our next hike was a little less popular. When we pulled up to the parking lot there was only one other car, and we never even saw anyone on the actual trail. At a 2 mile hike, Aztec Butte caught my eye in the visitor center because there’s a junction off the trail that leads to a couple of granaries. Throughout some of my anthropology courses in college I had learned about these so it was a neat experience to see some in real life. After following the cairns up the butte we were greeted by another extraordinary view of a canyon. The trails in Canyonlands were a lot of fun because being from the Midwest I’ve really only been on trails through woods where there is a distinct path. It was a change of pace to have to stop and search for the next cairn and see where you were headed.

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Upheaval Dome was our third destination. This was an interesting spot just because it is still uncertain about how the area formed. One of the theories is that it is a salt dome. Salt would have flowed up towards the surface over time and became exposed as the surrounding rock was eroded away. Others theorize that a meteorite collided with Earth leaving a crater that filled in over time with the underlying rock. The latter of the two theories is more widely accepted, however there are many questions left unanswered. Back at the parking lot we had another encounter with a few people checking out the van!

As it was getting late in the day, we decided to check out some overlooks to finish off our time at Canyonlands. We drove to the Green River View first, and then to Grand View Point. Both of these views were amazing and I felt as if I could sit there for hours taking in the vast landscape. It would definitely be fun to go back with an off road vehicle sometime and actually go down into the canyon areas as well!

The plan after returning to Moab was to stop at a McDonald’s and steal their wifi to watch an episode of Game of Thrones, but to be honest after being in the heat and sun all day along with not showering for a few days, we were in desperate need of washing off. Driving along we saw a campground right off the side of the road with a pool. Walking there, we soaped up and rinsed off at their outdoor shower, jumped in the pool, rewashed, and ended our night with that long awaited episode.

If you want to see what we got up to in Arches National Park then stay tuned. See you in the next one!