{"id":436,"date":"2010-04-21T21:24:04","date_gmt":"2010-04-22T05:24:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amyalphin.com\/?p=436"},"modified":"2010-04-21T21:26:29","modified_gmt":"2010-04-22T05:26:29","slug":"canyonlands-national-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/amyalphin.com\/?p=436","title":{"rendered":"Canyonlands National Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Part two of our Spring Break adventure had us heading west from Arches to Canyonlands National Park.\u00a0 We spent two days in this park in two if it’s three distinctly different areas.\u00a0 We visited the Needles district first, which is in the south eastern area of the park.\u00a0 The Needles is an interesting area, and I’m somewhat at a loss to describe the landscape there.\u00a0 It’s almost as though the consistency of the rock was changed to hot wax, and then dribbled out to form columns, blobs and mushroom-like formations.\u00a0 We even camped under our own large mushroom of a rock that night, which somewhat cut down on the wind (yes, there was MORE wind).<\/p>\n

After we arrived at the park and set up camp, we decided to go for a hike.\u00a0 We decided on the Chesler Park Trail, which twists and turns through towering spires of striped red, orange and cream colored rock.\u00a0 We climbed over large rock blobs, down through slot canyons, and between towers of rocks much much taller than our house.\u00a0 The trail leads to an awe inspiring amphitheater of rock towers all lined up in a row.\u00a0 It looks like a fossilized cityscape dropped off in the desert.\u00a0 Fascinating.\u00a0\u00a0 (yes, I know I’m going a bit overboard with the superlatives.\u00a0 Deal.)<\/p>\n

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The next day, we left the Needles area, and headed up north to the Island in the Sky area.\u00a0 I thought the NPS had gone a bit overboard with the name, until I saw the place.\u00a0 This section of the park is located on the top of a giant mesa, and from the edge, you look out over the different levels of sub-mesa, all the way down to the valley floor where the Green River meets the Colorado, thousands of feet below.\u00a0 The views were a bit ridiculous. We also visited Mesa Arch, which while interesting, was very crowded.\u00a0 The arch has a killer view down into the valley and of the snow-capped peaks beyond, and the drop off is immediate.\u00a0 There were many families with small children who were being not so attentive.\u00a0 We got out of there quickly because I kept getting more and more scared for other people’s <\/em>children!<\/p>\n

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We decided to do a short backpack that night, since the campground was full, and we wanted a bit more solitute.\u00a0 Since this national park is not heavily visited, there aren’t really backpacker campsites exactly, they have “backpacking zones”.\u00a0 There was a one party limit in our zone, so we were it.\u00a0 Sweet.\u00a0 We hiked out onto a slender finger of mesa poking out into the void and really felt the immensity of all. that. space.\u00a0 It was quite humbling really.\u00a0 We had our dinner on an outcropping of rock near the brim while we watched the sun go down and make the desert landscape burn even more orange.\u00a0 We also packed the kindle in, so that we could read to each other.\u00a0 You may laugh, but we’ve often been known to bring books or games when we backpack.\u00a0 Tom even carried the hardback version of the sixth Harry Potter<\/em> on a three day trip on Lake Chelan a few summers ago.\u00a0 Trust me, the kindle is an improvement.<\/p>\n

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Now, I am somewhat paranoid, especially when we’re backpacking out in the middle of nowhere<\/em>; I’m conviced every rustle of a branch is a cougar coming to eat us, or that scorpions and rattlesnakes are going to take up residence in my boots and backpack.\u00a0 This trip was no exception.\u00a0 Luckily the night wasn’t too windy (!), so I made it through alright, and even slept pretty well.<\/p>\n

The next morning, we did a few short walks around the park to see some of the different areas and vistas we hadn’t seen yet.\u00a0 We did a two mile trip out to a different finger of mesa where we got a rare great shot of the two of us together!\u00a0 The thing that surprised me most about trails in this park was the total lack of railings.\u00a0 Now, I’m not a huge proponent of making things feel<\/em> safer than they actually are and giving people a false sense of security, but we’re talking about drops of thousands of feet here!\u00a0 While it was fascinating seeing that kind of exposure, it was a bit heady for me. I’m pretty sure my dad would have either passed out or refused to get out of the car.\u00a0 The views were totally worth it though.<\/p>\n

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Part two of our Spring Break adventure had us heading west from Arches to Canyonlands National Park.\u00a0 We spent two days in this park in…<\/p>\n

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