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."

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.

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.

 

Teri actually went up both of the ladders.

Wooden Shoe Overlook

Pothole Point and Big Spring Canyon Overlook

The end of the road.

Newspaper Rock on the way to Canyonlands

Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument is in eastern Utah, western United States, located on Hwy 211, 25 miles before the entrance to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park.

The 200-square-foot (19 m²) rock is a part of the vertical Wingate sandstone cliffs that enclose the upper end of Indian Creek Canyon, and is covered by hundreds of ancient Indian petroglyphs (rock carvings)—one of the largest, best preserved and easily accessed groups in the Southwest. The petroglyphs have a mixture of human, animal, material and abstract forms, and to date no-one has been able to fully interpret their meaning.

The first carvings at the Newspaper Rock site were made around 2,000 years ago, and although a few are as recent as the early 20th century, left by the first modern day explorers of this region, the main groups have been assigned to the Anasazi (AD 1 to 1300), Fremont (AD 700 to 1300) and Navajo (AD 1500 onwards).^{[citation needed]}

The petroglyphs were carved by Native Americans during both the prehistoric and historic periods. Some glyphs depict riders on horses. While precisely dating the rock carvings has been difficult, repatination of surface minerals reveals their relative ages. The reason for the large concentration of the petroglyphs is unclear, making the rock somewhat of a mystery.

Teri is busy with the camera.

Wilson Arch near Moab Utah

Today we went on a drive to the south end of Canyonlands National Park and came across Wilson Arch

“Wilson Arch, with a span of 91 feet and height of 46 feet, is located about 24 miles south of Moab on US 191. The arch is visible from the road and there is a pulloff on the left with interpretive signs.”

View from the bottom.

Views from the top, that is Teri down on the bottom in the blue coat and our honda in the parking lot.

View of the arch from the top.

Canyonlands National Park at the Island in the Sky

This afternoon we went to the Island in the Sky side of Canyonlands National Park. The park is mainly overlooks, so here are the photos:

Dead Horse Point State Park

Today we went to Dead Horse Point State Park then on to Canyonlands National Park, the Island in the Sky side.

First the Dead Horse Point State Park overlook photos:

Trip up Highway 128 on the Colorado River

Today we went up Highway 128 next to the Colorado River and saw the land many movies were made.

Some of the views

Trip to Potash Petroglyphs near Moab Utah

Later in the afternoon we went down the Colorado River on the Potash road.

The first thing we see are rock climbers

Colorado River.

The Petroglyphs were about 400 feet long. This is only a sample shot.

Dinosaur footprints in the sandstone.