Canyonlands National Park, Utah- March 2021

 

Because of competing priorities, we only had one day allotted for Canyonlands National Park. This obviously wasn't enough to do substantial exploring but was actually very reasonable for a superficial taste of the Island in the Sky district. Canyonlands National Park is divided into multiple districts with Island of the Sky being the most accessible and visited. The Needles and the Maze are a couple other districts that we didn't even attempt to visit given their distance from our Dead Horse State Park home base and our desire to stick to shorter "get a taste of the place" hikes on this particular trip. 

Grand View Point
We played the whole day by ear partially based around when O (3) took his nap. While he was happily napping we listed to Gypsy Guides (once again highly recommend this GPS based app) and stopped at scenic points and while he was up we did short hikes.

First we went to Grand View Point Overlook and Zooey and I explored while Ollie slept (we then swapped with Adam). Either Z is now old enough to appreciate scenery or these views are particularly spectacular because she was as awestruck as I by the vast beauty at this point. We walked around and enjoyed the views. 



Headed up to Upheaval Dome
The first hike we did was Upheaval Dome Overlook. This is a short 0.8 mile out and back to a crater, the origins of which are completely unknown. Meteorite? Salt Dome? Who knows! This was a fun hike for the kids- it is uphill there and downhill back and the trail is wide with lots of rocks so the kids get to chose their own routes. 




Z surveying Whale Rock
We then headed to Whale Rock. The kids were pretty wiped by this point in the day and in the trip (day 10) so they required heavy bribery to start this hike but once we got to the rock they were on board with how cool it was and we heard no more complaints as we explored or on the hike back. Whale Rock is a short 1 mile out and back to a huge rock formation shaped like a....wait for it..... whale. The majority of the rock can be safely climbed by any human who can walk (or humans that can be strapped in packs). The very last bit requires some scrambling but probably the views are roughly the same if you omit that piece and probably most sure footed kids say 3 and up (?) could do it with parental supervision. Atop Whale Rock you can see the entire Island in the Sky area and a 360 degree panoramic view of the whole region.

Atop Whale Rock


On Whale Rock



On Whale Rock

We did drive around the campground which looked nice and did have available spots. Would definitely consider in the future.

Aztec Butte actually sounded like a great hike as described by the Gypsy Guide- I wasn't as interested based on our hiking book description, but if I come back I'd like to do that one. Apparently you can see Ancestral Puebloan structures and it's very lightly traversed- both sound great to me!





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