Canyonlands National Park is broken up into 3 different areas – Island In The Sky, The Needles, and The Maze. The former is the most accessible. An easy drive from Moab and not many long hikes to see the best areas of the park.
The latter is extremely difficult to access. There are no paved roads in this area and they recommend traveling in groups in case you get stuck. The terrain is extreme and you need a heavy-duty off-roading vehicle.
But the Needles, though remote and out of the way, is accessible via a state highway. And that was the next stop.
On the way back from Island in the Sky I stopped in Moab briefly to run some errands. I was thinking of grabbing lunch with Lynn and Mark (the older couple that helped me out when I got stuck in the La Sal mountains). But I was enjoying my alone time so I decided against it. I’d like to see them again and I will contact them when I am back in Utah in December.
I started my journey south in the mid-afternoon and it took me about an hour to get to the campground. Stayed at a developed BLM campground the first night and the views of the valley and the monoliths in the distance were amazing. I took it easy that evening because my plan was to go on a long hike the next day.
The Needles are named after the geologic rock formations in this area of the canyon. There are a lot of long spires of eroded rock and they resemble needles (kind of). You can see the different layers of rock that make up the structures and each layer is a different color. It creates a very unique look.
Cracks, moving in opposite directions, formed in the area many years ago. Before the rock eroded the cracks created a grid-like structure on the upper layer of the rock. As erosion ran its course, it slowly deepened these cracks until these tower-like structures were all that remained. That is what we see today in this area.
This part of Canyonlands has the most hiking trails and I was excited to get my legs moving. There are many trails that weave their way in and out of the canyons and it creates a labyrinth of sorts. Many people backpack for two or three nights but I wasn’t prepared to do that. So I decided to make a very long day hike instead.
I decided to go to Druid Arch first. It’s a little out of the way but I wanted to do something challenging so I went for it. You start at Elephant Hill trailhead, walk about 1.5 miles into the labyrinth of hiking trails, and then work your way south another mile until you get to the junction.
From there it’s another 2.5 miles to the arch. Canyon hikes are fairly straightforward – the canyon is the trail so it’s quite difficult to get lost. And the elevation gain is minimal. There was a lot of sand to walk through and tight cracks in the rock to navigate. So that slowed me down a bit.
As you get closer to the arch you have to do a bit of climbing and scrambling. Nothing too technical. But if you are not strong enough you might have to turn back. It was a proper adventure.
The arch itself was fairly large and you can scramble up a section of rocks to a platform with great views of it. It was kind of two arches in one, as there were multiple “holes” (if that’s the right word) created by erosion. It looked like a modern art sculpture to me.
I rested for a bit and had lunch. And then from there, I cut into the Chessler Park loop. I was able to take a shortcut that I didn’t see on the map. I kind of just stumbled upon it as I was walking back. It was one of the cooler sections during the hike. You have to navigate several ledges and caves to pass from one canyon to the next.
Once you are back on the main trail you are dumped into this open space. And you have this excellent view of all the stone spires. They completely enclose this area it seems. You walk around this one wall and you begin to move into Chessler Park.
Really worth the hike in here. It is a grassland here, with shrubs, small junipers, and pinyon pine trees. It is definitely a bit out of place but that’s what makes it so awesome. And it’s almost like you are pinned in (no pun intended) by the needle formations. You almost feel like you are in a very large stadium.
The walk back to the trailhead was fairly straightforward. Mostly along the trails I had walked on earlier in the day. All in all, I walked roughly 13 miles and it took me about seven hours.
I was pretty sore the next day. That’s what happens when you haven’t been moving as much. i wanted to do the Confluence Overlook hike. But I decided against it. It is another 11 miles and the ranger at the visitor center said it might not be worth it.
I just moseyed around the other areas and did some smaller hikes. The small loop at Pothole Point has amazing views of the needles. And the Cave Spring Loop had some awesome views as well from a distance.