Canyonlands is one of Utah’s Mighty 5 National Parks. It’s located about a half hour away from the very popular Arches national park right outside Moab, Utah. Canyonlands consists of 4 districts – Island in the Sky, The Needles, The Maze, and the Colorado River and it’s tributaries which carved out the landscape.
In our brief visit to Canyonlands, we only went to the Island in the Sky district. If you have more time, I highly recommend exploring the other areas of the park that offer more hiking and actually getting into the canyons. Check out the park website for more info on what you can do!
We visited Canyonlands as a part of our Utah road trip where we saw 4 of Utah’s national parks in 5 days. We stayed in Moab and drove over to Canyonlands from there – about a half hour drive southeast. There aren’t many amenities in Canyonlands, so make sure you bring food and water. There are so many beautiful spots to eat a picnic!
Watch the Sunrise at Mesa Arch
This has become a very popular thing to do, and it’s understandable why! The hike to Mesa arch is fairly easy (as long as you have a headlamp), and seeing the sun come up through the arch all while it’s lighting up the vast canyon landscape underneath it is certainly breathtaking and an experience I will never forget. Just a warning: there were plenty of people there early with tripods set up and ready to be there a long time. Some people would plant themselves under the arch for awhile, so navigating being polite, waiting your turn, and also asking people to politely step aside for a moment so you can get an unobstructed view makes this an interesting experiment in social norms.
Drive Grand Viewpoint Road
We spent the rest of our time at Canyonlands driving along Grand Viewpoint Road and stopping at whatever pullout we wanted – there are a lot of them and they all have spectacular views. The whole time we were there I felt like I was on top of the world – getting a glimpse into what it must be like to be a bird flying over extensive canyons.
If you have more time, follow this link to some of the great hikes Canyonlands offers. I’m very excited to come back here someday to do some of the amazing hikes they have in the other districts!
