Last week I posted about our family’s awe-inspiring hike in the Fiery Furnace at Arches National Park during our spring break trip to Utah. Although that hike may have been our favorite of the trip, a very close second would be our hike in the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park. For being so close to Arches, Canyonlands National Park feels like a world away, with three very different districts at different elevations surrounding the confluence of the Colorado and Green Rivers. And although the less rugged Island in the Sky district is closer to Moab and full of canyon views that rival those of the Grand Canyon, the less visited Needles district in the canyons below is a true hikers’ paradise.
Founded in 1964, Canyonlands is Utah’s largest national park at a whopping 337,598 acres and lies south of Arches National Park and its gateway community of Moab, about 4 hours southeast of Salt Lake City. Canyonlands is a wonderland of mesas, canyons, and rock formations carved through more than 300 million years of rock layers. Having once lain beneath ancient seas, the terrain at Canyonlands has been ground down by the Colorado and Green Rivers as the tectonic forces that formed the Rocky Mountains lifted the Colorado Plateau.
With its rugged topography, Canyonlands was among the last sections of Utah’s backcountry to catch the attention of the National Park Service. It therefore missed the golden era of road and facility construction in the first half of the 20th century, when the Park Service focused on maximizing attendance by appealing to automotive tourism. As a result, Canyonlands has remained much less “improved” than many other national parks.
The vast majority of visitors to Canyonlands focus on the Island in the Sky district, which is roughly 30 minutes from Moab and more easily toured by car. Sitting atop a mesa more than 2,000 feet above the canyons and rivers below, Island in the Sky provides spectacular perches for gazing at endless skies and panoramic vistas of the canyons and rivers below. By comparison, the Needles district is more than 90 minutes from Moab and has fewer paved roads and scenic pull offs. But it trades parking lots and asphalt for more than 60 miles of trails through some of the most scenic terrain in the country.
Because we had only one day in the Needles and were wary of our lack of conditioning in hilly terrain, we chose to spend our morning doing the 6-mile out-and-back hike from the Elephant Hill trailhead to the Chesler Park overlook. And although we returned after almost 1,300 feet of cumulative elevation gain with sore legs and empty lungs, we spent virtually the entire hike struggling to lift our jaws off the trail, awestruck at the beauty and variety of the natural wonders surrounding us.
Although the “moderately” rated route to Chesler Park seemed to border on the strenuous for an out-of-shape flatlander like me, the trail was well maintained with thoughtfully placed stepping stones to minimize scrambling. It begins with a short but aggressive climb from the trail head, then flattens into a mile-and-a-half roll over grassy hills and slickrock mounds, surrounded by multi-layered canyon walls and spires. Eventually the district’s namesake Needles burst into view, after you’ve already been treated to countless panoramas of canyons and eroded fins and buttes.
Eventually the terrain becomes more rugged, with trails climbing up and down canyon walls (albeit with minimal drops for those afraid of heights), and you’ll even pass through several narrow ravines. After 2½ miles, you’ll finish the last quarter mile in Chesler Park with a steep ascent to the overlook, where you’re rewarded with a breathtaking view down into Chesler Park and its red and yellow rock formations underlining the Island in the Sky in the distance.
We were not surprised to see our fair share of backpackers. The Needles district has more than 20 backcountry campsites, making it ideal for short backpacking excursions. Backcountry campsites must be reserved in advance and can be booked here for $5 per person per night, plus an additional non-refundable $36 reservation fee. Campsites at Canyonlands book up quickly during summer and spring break, so you’ll want to consider booking several months in advance if you plan to camp there then.
Daily admission to Canyonlands and all other national parks costs $15 per person or $30 per private vehicle. (If you plan to visit one or more national parks multiple times in a year, you may prefer to purchase an Annual Pass, which costs only $80 for U.S. citizens and covers park admission for a single private vehicle (i.e., a family) to any national park for 365 continuous days.) If you’re looking for a national park with fewer crowds but spectacular scenery, the Needles district in Canyonlands National Park should not be missed.
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