Spring break 2012 – Canyonlands Needles

In the morning, we quickly moved out to finally go check out the southern part of Canyonlands, known as the Needles section. We drove south into a head wind for 30 miles before turning west into yet another head wind for 30 more miles before making it into the park. This section of the park has been on our todo list since our first trip out here in 2010, but we have always failed to make it for one reason or another. 4 different times I passed it by, and this time we choose to go out of our way just to check it out.

Before entering the park we came across “newspaper rock”. This slab or hillside was covered with drawings from well back in history. We came to the agreement that the natives spotted many aliens and had a thing for feet :-)

Tim and I went out for a short exploratory hike towards Elephant Hill where we ran into a small scorpion (exciting for us both) but the wind chased us back to the van before venturing too far out. After a quick lunch, Imelda and I explored another half-mile trail around the only source of fresh-water in the area. This trail, known as Cave Spring, took us along an old cowboy camp and up on top of the sandstone before bringing us back to the waiting van and Timmy.

While the Needles section of Canyon’s may not have the views as the Island in the Sky section, it is much more suited for hiking and biking. If I had a few days, I’d love to have stayed here and hiked many of the 6-10 mile trails that bring you up into the “needles” of sandstone formations. With mid-afternoon approaching, we wanted to make it into Cortez, CO to get a hotel (fingers crossed) and a good night’s sleep before Mese Verde Ntnl Park in the monring.