Canyonlands

In October of 2024, my boyfriend and I flew down to Las Vegas to embark on a road trip across Arizona and Utah to see all the national parks. The first of Utah's Mighty 5 that we visited was Canyonlands.

We were woken in the wee hours of the morning by a thunderstorm. As heavy rain pelted the roof of our camper van, I was so glad we had decided to rent a camper van instead of a renting a car and tenting. The camper van didn't even fully protect us from the rain though, as it found a way in though the rickety kitchen fan and started dripping onto the counter inches from our heads.

Canyonlands National Park is absolutely massive! It is divided into 4 districts. We explored the Island in the Sky district, which is the closest to Moab. For a map of the Island in the Sky District: https://www.nps.gov/cany/planyourvisit/upload/IslandRoadsandTrailsUpdated24-508forweb.pdf The roads through the Island in the Sky district are basically a T with the visitor centre at the base. We started by driving all the way to one end of the T to hike Upheaval Dome, driving to the other end of the T to hike Grand View Point Overlook, and finishing with a hike in the middle to Mesa Arch.

Upheaval Dome

Distance: 2km

Elevation gain: 35m

The walk to the first lookout is very quick and easy, so the trail was busy with families. The trail begins with stairs, that we avoided as best we could while still staying on trail because the steps were flooded from the storm this morning. After the stairs, you walk across rock and there is no real trail, so you either rely on cairns or simply following the masses. Over a ledge, the crater appears, looking truly otherworldly. I was, obviously, expecting a big hole in the ground, and I was not disappointed. I wasn't expecting the array of colours in the dome in the center of the crater, making this look like a mine for rare and colourful minerals.

We opted to carry on to the second lookout to get a view of upheaval canyon. Since the trail is so short, I would say that the second lookout is worth doing. The view of the crater is not too different, but I enjoyed getting to appreciate the crater from another angle.

We had perfect timing because right before we got back to the van, it began to sprinkle with rain.

Grand View Point Overlook

Distance: 3km

Elevation gain: 22m

When we got to the parking lot at the trailhead, we had lunch before setting off on trail. It was still sprinkling a bit, so we stayed inside and hoped that the sky would clear. My boyfriend had bought a bag of Takis Blue Heat at the grocery store the other day because that is a snack we had never seen in Canada. He had one and then was going to trash the rest because they were much too spicy for his liking. Not wanting to waste food, if you can actually call blue Takis food with all the dyes and artifical flavours, I finished off the bag. This resulted immediately in the worst indigestion I've had in my life! I set off on trail doubled over in discomfort.

Only a few feet down trail, we were already coming to appreciate why this park is called Canyonlands. From our vantage point high up on the mesa, giant rifts in the ground far in the distance made it look like you could walk right off the edge of the earth. Unfortunately, some of the view was obscured by cloud becuase it was an overcast day. I could only imagine how stunning this hike would be on a clear day.

The trail is along the edge of cliff, at times a little too close for comfort, especially with the rock being slick post rainfall. We also had to carefully navigate around expansive cracks. The further we walked, the better the views became. Initially, we could only see in one direction, a high rock wall blocking the other direction. Later, we could see in all directions, taking in the full expanse of the park.

At the end of the ridge, we scrambled up onto a lookout, gaining an incredible view of Junction Butte!

On the way back, the cloud had lifted and we were afforded a view of what we had previously been obscured.

Mesa Arch

Distance: 1km

Elevation gain: 17m

Mesa Arch is best at sunrise because the sun shines through the arch and illuminates it gold. We were there at the end of the day though.

Mesa Arch trail is a quick loop, so you are at the arch and back at the car in no time. I was surprised by how quiet it was on trail, given that Mesa Arch is the most famous hike in the park, but I figured it was because everyone had gone in the morning. When we arrived at the arch, it was not quiet. Exercising patience, we were eventually able to get photos without anyone else in them, such as this silly one of me pretending to dive through the arch.

Closing Thoughts

The hikes we did in Canyonlands had a high reward to effort ratio, as they were all short and flat trails with spectacular views of unique geological features. Since we were there on a subpar day, we did not get to experience Canyonlands in full glory, but we still enjoyed our time there.