Canyonlands National Park – Utah

The History of Canyonlands National Park

Canyonlands National Park sits in southeastern Utah, southwest of Moab. At 337,598 acres it is the largest of Utah’s five national parks. The Green and Colorado rivers meet near the center of it. Over an enormous stretch of time those rivers cut the mesas, buttes, spires, and canyons that make up the park.

The Four Districts

The rivers split the park into four districts. Island in the Sky sits north of the confluence and is closest to Moab, a high level mesa reached by a narrow neck of rock. The Needles lies east of the Colorado. The Maze is west of the Green and is among the most remote country in the lower forty eight. The rivers themselves make up the fourth district.

The People Who Were Here First

The Fremont people and the Ancestral Puebloans lived in this country long before it was a park. They left pictographs and petroglyphs in Horseshoe Canyon and built granaries in the rock, some going back to the twelfth century. Ute and Navajo people used these canyons into the late 1800s. John Wesley Powell ran the Green and the Colorado through here in 1869 and again in 1871.

How It Became a Park

Bates Wilson was the superintendent at Arches in the 1950s when he started exploring the country south and west of Moab. He wanted it protected. For years he drove government officials out into it and made his case around a campfire. Interior Secretary Stewart Udall was one of them, and Udall took up the cause. Utah Senator Frank Moss introduced the legislation. President Lyndon Johnson signed it on September 12, 1964, establishing 257,640 acres. Congress expanded the park to its current size in 1971.

Know Before You Go

• Region: Southwest United States
• Location: San Juan, Wayne, Garfield, and Grand counties, southeastern Utah. Island in the Sky is about 32 miles from Moab.
• Address: Island in the Sky Visitor Center, Moab, UT 84532
• Coordinates: 38.1669, -109.7597
• Costs: NPS Fee $20 – $30; America the Beautiful pass accepted
• Schedule: Open year-round, 24 hours a day. No timed entry reservation required.
• Attraction Type: National Park
• Activities: Scenic driving, hiking, overlooks, photography, stargazing, mountain biking the White Rim Road, river trips
• Notes:
  • Pick your district before you go. Island in the Sky is the easiest from Moab and has the big overlooks. The Needles is two hours away. The Maze needs serious preparation and a capable vehicle.
  • Grand View Point and Mesa Arch are the two you will hear about most at Island in the Sky. Both are short walks.
  • There is no water at Island in the Sky beyond the visitor center. Bring all of it.
  • Summer is hot and there is no shade out on the mesa.
  • Cell signal is limited. Download maps first.
  • The White Rim Road is 100 miles of backcountry driving and needs a permit and a high clearance four wheel drive vehicle.
• Additional Resources: NPS Official Site

My Visit

My brother and I came through here in 2006 on a road trip home from Arizona. We did Arches in the morning and drove up out of Moab in the afternoon, climbing the whole way with big rock walls on either side of the road.

The two parks sit close together and people bundle them into the same day, but they are not the same experience. Arches puts you right up next to the rock. You walk to the formation and stand under it. Canyonlands keeps its distance. You stop at an overlook and everything worth seeing is out beyond you, spread across more country than you can take in from one spot.

If you only have a day for both, know that going in. Arches will fill the time you give it. Canyonlands asks you to stand still and look, and that is a different kind of visit.