Dead Horse Point & Canyonlands NP

We celebrated our 50th anniversary yet again with a quick trip to Canyonlands NP.   In route we also stopped at Dead Horse Point State Park.  They were both wonderful!  In Canyonlands we went to two districts:  first, the Island in the Sky and then The Needles.  We left Thursday afternoon after I got home from work and got to Moab around 8:30ish.  We ate dinner along the way with a stop at Arby's in Salina.  Friday morning we headed to Island in the Sky with the stop along the way at Dead Horse Point and some other overlooks.  We took the little nature hike at the visitor's center at Dead Horse while we waited for it to open at 9 am.  After checking out the displays (old cowboy camp) and the other things there, we drove out to the actual point that has a dramatic overlook of the Colorado River and Canyonlands. So beautiful! We took another little hike up there and then decided to get on our way. 

 

At the Island in the Sky we decided to do the scenic drive and catch all of the stops along the way.  We went to the visitor's center first and checked it out and watched the film.  Then we took off on the drive. At one stop/hike (we met up with a geologist who hiked part of the trail with us pointing out things that he thought were dinosaur footprints/skeletons and grand views.  He had some interesting opinions and we enjoyed talking with him, his wife and another couple that hiked with him as well). We stopped at a picnic area for a snack late afternoon and were joined by a couple of chattering ravens. We spent all day at this district of the park and our last stop was to take a picture of the beautiful sunset.  We went to Wendy's for dinner and enjoyed a great night's sleep again at our motel that was both economical and really nice. With the time we had decided to do the scenic drives and the hikes at the stops along the way rather than doing one long hike.  In this district we did:  Mesa Arch, White Rim Overlook, Grand View Point, Murphy Point and Upheaval Dome first and second overlook. All total we did 8.8 miles at these stops.  

Washer Woman and Mesa Arch

The next morning we headed to the Needles District of the park.  It was a little further to drive to, but not much.  The scenery before the park was great as well as inside the boundaries.  The first thing we stopped by was the Newspaper rock!   Next stop was at the visitor's center and then took the scenic drive and did the stops and hikes along it.  We enjoyed so many amazing views of the Needles as well as all of the other awesome formations in this district.  We left the park about 2 pm, stopped at a park in Moab for a snack, and then hit the road for home.  We stopped off for dinner at Arby's (they have this great fried turkey club sandwich right now) and made it home about  8:30 pm.  At Needles District we again did the scenic drive and hiked to the Stone Storehouse, Cave Spring, Pothole Point, Slickrock for a total of 7.8 miles.  

What a wonderful trip!!! It was so wonderful to spend time together at these beautiful places.