Having made a couple passes through Arches National Park yesterday we chose to spend today on a spin through Canyonlands National Park about 25 miles up the road. After about 15 or 20 miles on US-191 we turned off onto UT-313 and toward the fee station at Canyonlands. Our access pass got us around the $25 entry fee and we were soon driving along the top of a gorgeous plateau with the Colorado River gorge on our left and the Green River gorge on our right. They are both massive.
Ample pullouts are provided along the roads but in this place there cannot be too many. The views down the 2500′ from the plateau, through extraordinary canyons eroded by millions of years of exposure and finally to the vibrant green patches of vegetation near the rivers are wonderful. This park is very porker friendly and I took a few trails to overlooks where I was amazed at the panoramas. The weather put on a great demonstration of lightning, thunder, some short downpours and abrupt clearing of skies. This place is absolutely awe-inspiring. If I ran a religion, I’d build a church here and tell the faithful I was responsible for the scenery.
Again, we found the afternoon lighting the best for photos although the clear skies after rainstorms were nice, too. Giant rainbows formed in the tail of each passing thunderhead and they were very spiffy. The lower temperatures brought on by the fast-moving weather systems were ideal for exploring and Peggy and I did quite a bit in Canyonlands.
Eventually we had covered all the paving and blocked many cars while taking pictures so we headed back home at late afternoon. On the way back to US-191 there happened to be a turnoff for Dead Horse Point State Park or Horse Dead Point or some arrangement of Dead, Horse and Point State Park. In any event, this state park near Canyonlands offers some terrific additional views of the incredible rock formations and colossal, monstrous effects of erosion on this landscape. Canyonlands is truly gorgeous with a little bit of Lake Powell, Grand Canyon, Capitol Reef, Bryce and Zion all in one locale for our viewing pleasure. Crowds were minimal. Parking was available wherever we needed it. Restrooms are ubiquitous for all us bladder challenged geezers.
There is no water, sewer or electrical here. Bring your own water or fill a water container at the visitor center because you will need it in this arid, primeval part of the world.
We got some pictures along the way although some look a bit washed out due to weather conditions and the massive distances involved. You can see ’em if you click here