Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Finally Canyonlands National Park the Needles Entrance.

Canyonlands National Park is a U.S. National Park located in eastern Utah near the city of Moab and preserves a colorful landscape eroded into countless canyons, mesas and buttes by the Colorado River, the Green River, and their respective tributaries. The rivers divide the park into four districts: the Island in the Sky, the Needles, the Maze and the rivers themselves. While these areas share a primitive desert atmosphere, each retains its own character.[1] The park covers 527.5 square miles (1,366 km2). Canyons are carved into the Colorado Plateau by the Colorado River and Green River.[2] Author Edward Abbey, a frequent visitor, described the Canyonlands as "the most weird, wonderful, magical place on earth—there is nothing else like it anywhere."

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Roadside ruins.

the Needles District is fortunate to have a very well-preserved prehistoric granary only a 5-minute walk from the road. This granary was built by the Anasazi Indians who lived in the area before about 1300 A.D. They cultivated corn, squash, and beans and stored their crops in small masonry enclosures. Roadside Ruin is similar to most of the granaries they left behind. It is about 5 feet in diameter, 4 feet high, and it was built in a small alcove where it is sheltered from the wind and the rain. Unlike most Anasazi granaries the Roadside Ruin granary's door is located on its roof, but the stone and mud construction of the walls is typical.

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Cave Springs

This 0.6 mile loop trail leads to a cowboy camp, ancestral Puebloan rock art, a perennial springs, up two wooden ladders onto slickrock sandstone, and back to the parking arena.

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Teri actually went up both of the ladders.

Wooden Shoe Overlook

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Pothole Point and Big Spring Canyon Overlook

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The end of the road.

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