Canyonlands National Park

“I'm thinking of heading to Canyonlands for a week or so. Maybe last week of March.

Does anyone have any experience backpacking there? Trails to reccomend, something I can spend a week on? Weather this time of year? Water availability? Places to avoid the masses?”

“m-nutz, do you have a specific part of the park in mind? There are many hikes in the Needles section of the park with Squaw Flats Campground used as your base. On the way down there you will pass Newspaper Rock filled with petroglphs and a sight to see! One of the hikes on my "to do" list is the Salt Creek Canyon hike in which you can encounter the pictograph of the red/white/blue All American man. Here's a link to a hiking club...go to the very bottom of the page to Rob Jones Wilderness Vagabond Page. He has great trip reports on several of the Canyonland hikes, including Salt Canyon.

Link to Rob Jones Trip Reports

Also, if you would be jeeping per chance, you could take the White Rim trail around the Island in the Sky section. My son did that although you need to get a permit for the very few campsites along the route. There's also good jeeping along the Schaefer Trail which starts just outside Moab and takes you up to the Island section - it's awesome!!!Additionally, there is the Maze section which has a hike to Horseshoe Canyon...supposedly one of the best sites in the west for ancient rock art. Guess you can tell that's one of my interests! Hope that helps and I DEMAND to see pics of your trip!!!!!”

“Here are some online hiking books that I found. There are some on Canyonlands that may be helpful to you.

On Line Falcon Hiking Books”

“p.s. I've just read that the Moab Easter Jeep Safari run 4/7 through 4/15. If you want solitude, this is NOT the time to visit as there will be 1,000+ jeeps in the Moab/Canyonlands area.”

“Hi m-nutz. Here is a taste of what you can find at Canyonlands. Now this is a every driver's end destination in the Island in the Sky unit, but...... pretty great at sunset, ain't it??



Wow I wrote this post out once and Netscape locked up before I sent it..... let's see, where to start......

Utahiker is right, there are lots of great overnight or two-night backpacking trips in the Needles section. We drove to Elephant Hill (as the French couple walking up it said to me, "Where iszee elly-font?")...... and I would never talk MY JEEP up Elephant Hill!! However, this 4 WD road is one access point to the backcountry west on to the Colorado River and south and even a bit east, to the Salt Creek area she mentioned.

We only visited the Needles section and Island in the Sky sections in day trips. And there's a LOT MORE I wanna see there!!

Two books I own that I've perused pretty thoroughly... I recommend the first highly, just because it gets a bit more into Canyonlands trails:

1. "Utah's National Parks" Subtitled "Hiking, Camping nad Vacationing in Utah's Canyon Country." By Ron Adkison, Wilderness Press. It takes in Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches and Canyonlands. He's good at describing potential overnight backpacks.

2. "Canyon Hiking Guide to the Colorado Plateau, 4th Edition" by Michael R. Kelsey, Kelsey Publishing. If you wanna see CANYONS -- well known and not so well-known -- this is your book. He hikes FAST and rarely stays overnight. In fact, it is said by giving information on how fast he completes a hike (and he is pretty much running), it leads people into bad situations, cuz they can't complete them as fast and may end up in the middle of nowhere at nightfall without appropriate clothes, etc.

For the Needles section backcountry, you will need a backcountry permit, which can be purchased at the visitor's center at Needles.

We did not visit the Maze section. It is way more remote and inaccessible. I had seen a photo on another site taken by a guy in the Maze. I wrote him and asked how tough it was to get there. He wrote back, "The maze section of Canyonlands is my favorite, very inaccessible and rugged. To get to the camp spot I like is a 21 mile, 7+ hour intense 4x4 drive. That is half the adventure. Beautiful area though. I need to get down there again as well." So, that's another option as well.

I'd advise staying away from White Rim Trail in the Island in the Sky unit in March. I would think permits would be gone for "spring breaking" students.

Go to the www.nps.gov site and look up Canyonlands to get permit info and more.

Utahiker.......isn't Newspaper Rock just plain amazing??!!! I musta taken a roll of film there. Someday I'll get some scans when I get a better scanner. (That's why my other photo is sooooooo small-- to TRY to maintain a wee bit of the original shot's quality.)

I just read on www.amazingoutdoors, in looking at the Utah Outdoors magazine specifically, an article on petroglyphs, etc. It said heading out of Moab, I believe the way you must have gone, toward the Potash Plant (I THINK....)... there's a bunch of rock art, including a birthing scene, which it had a photo of. Too cool! Don't you just wonder about the ancient Fremont and Anasazi peoples?”

“Cindy lu is either there right now, or will be there very soon. Ask her.”

“Good luck figurin' what you'll do out there Mr.Nutz...cause there's LOTS of stuff to see, do, hike, mountain bike, jeep, raft, etc...”

“I thought Cindy Lu went to the Grand Canyon??”

“oops, you're right lizs. Don't know what I'm talkin about.”

“UTAHIKER - Thanks for the links, lots of good info.

lizs - I saw your sunset picture on a previous thread, it's awesome!

I'm thinking maybe The Needles or The Maze. I don't need to rush and see the whole area. I'd rather just take a week and explore one section.”

“If'n yer gonna hit the confluence of the rivers like we did 20-sumthin' years ago, do what we did. Bring jes a section of monofilament (20 yards 10lb. test) coupla long-shank hooks (#4 ok) an' half-dozen regular-sized splitshot. We ain't zackly world-class anglers, but we caught plenny catfish jes soft-tossin' that rig into the current. Use horsesh!t for bait (no kiddin').

By the way, shared a shelter jes coupla nites ago in SE NY with coupla Utahns outta Price (Carbon County). Real nice young folks. Spent 1/2 nite regaling ea. other n' sippin' on tea n' 151.”

“Unless you've got a hummer or a jeep, steer clear of the maze district. It's considered the most remote location in the lower 48 states, with good reason.”

“Great pics UTAHIKER!

Hobbit - I was hoping to backpack into the Maze, can I not get close enough to do that?”

“Great site UTAHIKER! Here is another view of the Schaefer trail coming down from the Canyonlands side:
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=252007&a=1873052&p=44251595&Sequence=0&res=high

M-nutz, whatever you do, have fun! Here is a great site about a hike into the Needles area. Good luck!

http://www.gj.net/~redrock/needles_hike.htm”

“Is that Schaefer Trail treacherous, or is it just steep and has a lot of switchbacks? Do you need to back up to make any of the switchbacks? Just testing for the lizs drive-ability factor!

I got a book while at Moab, a small, self-published piece on out-of-the way hiking nad Jeep trails, rock art, arches, cool spots, etc. What it amounted to is only common sense -- while on the popular trails take off (carefully) and check some of the unmarked side canyons. Course, the book helped pinpoint them. It talked about another nasty road going down to the Green River (opposite direction from main road, of course), probably not too far before the Schaefer turnoff when at the Island in the Sky visitor center. And I think he said to take some road from the Potash Road up to Deadhorse Point State Park too. (I remember seeing dirt/gravel road heading toward the cliffs and just wondered if it would be good!!!) Apparently so...........”

“After reading more on the Needles, I think that is where I will spend my time, probably about a week.

I will call tomorrow about a backcountry permit.

I picked up a copy of Edward Abbey's "Desert Solitaire" today, to read while I'm there.

I will probably leave Thursday. It'll be a two day drive for me, about 20 hours. I haven't been on that long of a road trip by myself in a long time. I can't wait!”

“To answer your question m-nutz, yes, you can get close enough to backpack in the Maze district. IF you have a hummer or a jeep or some similar high clearance short wheel-base vehicle. I tried to get in there with my GMC 4X4 pickup truck, and bottomed out 3 times within a mile of the bottom of the Flint trail, which in itself is an experience. The biggest disapointment however, is that the place we WANTED to go (Jasper canyon) was closed to people because they are trying to let it recover from too much pressure? I'm not sure what sort of pressure a canyon can see that is that remote and not accessible to cattle, but they have it closed to foot traffic.”

“Lizs, that photo makes the Shafer Trail look a lot worse than it really is. This curvey section is right at the beginning, not too far from the visitor center of the Island in the Sky section. I?ve done these switchbacks both ways, and in my Subaru wagon no less. No backing up required. What a fun mtn. Bike ride that would be, huh? This road eventually leaves Canyonlands NP after about 6 miles, and goes directly below the cliffs of Deadhorse Point, then turns into the Potash Road, which eventually leads right into Moab. Great drive, a little rough in a few places, but nothing too scary at all. We?ve camped right below Deadhorse Point, right next to the Gooseneck of the Colorado River. Amazing spot: http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=252007&a=1873052&p=23860293&Sequence=0&res=high
At night we could here the voices of the people 1500 feet above us. Pretty wild.”

“Another suggestion if you go to the maze area...there is great slot canyon hiking to be head in Little wild horse and bell canyons just a few miles off the highway. You take the turn-off to Goblin Valley State Park which is cool as well. I have a few pics of the slots..they are really fun, so don't miss them if you have the time.
San Raefel area in Utah

Also, if anyone is interested, here is a pic of Newspaper Rock:

Newspaper Rock”

“photoboy, thanks much for those great links!!! I loved the pic of the Schaefer Trail, forgot how awesome the view can be. Also, that site on the the Needles hiking was excellent! Is that well put together or what??? There is a good write-up with pics on Little Wild Horse Canyon..it's a super place.

Alphapackrat, sounds like you had a good trip with some Utes! I've been to Price and visited the museum there and a place filled with rock art called Nine Mile Canyon. Despite my moniker (utahiker), I'm from the midwest...just love Utah like home. Now New York...that's another story.....”

“Thanks for the info photoboy! Have you been up Elephant Hill in Needles? When we were there, it seemed people were just sitting around at the bottom WAITING for some ole Jeeper to attempt it. lol! All I saw was some dirt biker (motorcycle) come down it very slowly.

You could definitely wreck something on your vehicle's undercarriage there. And you DO have to back up to make a turn. I guess they (NPS) put down some asphalt in a few places and roughed it up for better traction. I'm sure "purists" hated that.”

“Lizs, we had a Ford escort following several miles behind us so that should tell you how drivable this road is....LOL!!!! Go for it!”