Canyonlands NP

Saturday, July 12

After a quick lunch and a stop to make sure the Rav was full of gas, we were off to the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park.  The park is just a bit southwest of Moab.

However, such a "direct" route would require going up the very steep Shafer Trail Road.  That was not in our plans for this trip.  The improved route is north on route 191, then west on route 313.  It is a total of 32 miles from Moab to the visitor center.  Like everywhere else in the region, it is more beautiful scenery along the way.

It is a climb up to the top of the mesa and includes travel across a narrow neck of land. Once up on top of the mesa, the features of interest are fairly spread out but are connected by good roads.  The Colorado River gorge is on the east side and the Green River gorge is on the west side.  One of the things that is somewhat deceptive on the map is the dashed (unpaved) White Rim Road that encircles the park.  It is on White Rim, which is 1000-1500 feet below the top of the mesa rim but still 600 feet or more above the rivers.

One of our first impressions in driving across the central part of the mesa was this was more "normal" or like some of the dry areas of Texas, i.e. grasslands with some small shrubs vs the sand and slick rock of Arches.  However, upon more detailed inspection, there are notable differences.

Tiny prickly pear cacti--the first we had seen in the area

Any prickly pear cactus we saw was small and stunted looking, nothing like what we typically see in Texas.  This is apparently typical of the Great Basin Desert.  Because of colder temperatures relative to the other North American deserts, cacti do not grow well.  As in Arches, we also saw lots of cryptobiotic soil crusts.

Cryptobiotic soil

Our first objective was Mesa Arch, one of the signature features of Canyonlands.  It is a hike of about 0.5 miles from the parking area. 

The Frog at Mesa Arch

 
Mesa Arch is a pothole arch on the eastern edge of the mesa rim.  It is a sheer drop of over 1000 feet.  However the view through the arch is spectacular, looking out over White Rim, Buck Canyon, and beyond that the Colorado River. 

The view through Mesa Arch with Washer Woman Arch and Airport Tower in the distance

Mesa Arch

Not sure what this little plant is, but he did a nice job of posing at the edge with the mountains in the background.

Of course, this is not the only place from Island in the Sky to see vistas off the mesa.  One of the most well known locations is Grand View Point Overlook.  We stopped there twice over the course of the afternoon to take advantage of different light.  The potential panorama pic from here would be stunning.

Looking south from Grand View Point Overlook

The old overlook sign I found online--no longer in place since the renovations at the overlook--that explains the view: 1 LaSal Mountains, 2 White Rim, 3 Colorado River, 4 Totem Pole, 5 White Rim Road, 6 monument Basin, 7 Abajo Mountains, 8 Needles, 9 Mining Roads, 10 Confluence, 11 Green River

The White Rim Road jeep trail meanders along towards what should be White Crack backcountry camp site, although it was too far to see it from here.

An extra added attraction at this overlook was a flock of ravens.  We had seen ravens at several locations on this trip, but they acted like they owned Grand View Overlook.  They were quite the characters at this location, squawking and making quite a ruckus.  We did not feed them, but they apparently thought we should have.  They followed us all the way back to the car, protesting the entire time.

Ravens at the edge near Grand View Overlook

Ravens at Grand View Point Overlook

Although Grand View Point Overlook is more famous, another equally stunning place for views off the mesa is Green River Overlook.  Unfortunately afternoon was not the prime time for pictures from there (somewhat more towards the west), so we don't have as many pictures.

View from Green River Overlook.  The promontory on the left is probably Murphy Point.

Green River from Green River Overlook.  The lone small butte in the bend of the river (to the right of center) is Turks Head.

In addition to spending lots of time taking in the views from the rim of the mesa, we hiked to the rim of Upheaval Dome.  Upheaval Dome is a crater-shaped topographic feature which is 8000 feet across and over 1000 feet deep. The origin of the structure has been considered to be either a pinched-off salt dome or a complex meteorite impact crater.  It is not clear which is correct.

On the rim of Upheaval Dome at the first overlook

The hike to the rim is reportedly only about 1 mile round trip with 100 feet of elevation gain, but it felt a lot longer.  It was probably due to the heat (high 90's), the intense sun, and the very uneven and unstable footing.

I am not a geologist, but the rocks definitely looked different than normal.  I think the light colored rocks in the center of the crater may have been more green than they appear here.

 

Upheaval Dome from the first overlook

It was more of a struggle than it should have been, but we made it.  At least I thought it was worth it. However it was formed, it was very interesting.  It would be a great place to explore in more detail sometime when it is cooler.


We had squeezed a lot into one afternoon and we were tired, but we definitely wanted to see Dead Horse Point before returning to Moab.  It is actually a state park and is a few miles outside the entrance to Canyonlands, but still on the mesa.  That will be the subject of the next blog.