...to Canyonlands National Park.
Canyonlands has three major sections: Island in the Sky, The Needles, and The Maze.
We only visited Island in the Sky because The Needles and The Maze were
too far away for a day trip.
As we rode out to the
first stop on our itinerary, we could see the canyons at various points that
surrounded most of this section of the park, making it an "Island in the
Sky."
We passed by Whale Rock...
...and then arrived at the trailhead to Upheaval Dome, our
first stop in Canyonlands. How Upheaval
Dome was created is debated among scientists.
Some scientists think that the dome is a slow moving salt
dome where the sea became trapped in a large basin and then evaporated millions
of year ago leaving behind thousands of feet of salt. Over time the salt rose through the overlying
sediment, exposing the distorted crater and dome visible today.
Other scientists believe that it is a crater that resulted
from a meteor hitting the earth. Aerial
pictures taken above Upheaval Dome like the one below might lead you to believe
it was caused by a meteor.
From the overlook we hiked to, it looked more like a salt
dome to us.
Regardless of whether it was a salt dome or meteor crater,
the views were great!
We hiked back to the car and headed out for the next stop on
our itinerary, Green River Overlook. On
the drive out to Green River, we passed by this big rock formation in the Green River Canyon to
the west.
We walked out to the overlook at Green River. From its 6,000 ft. elevation, we could see
Green River below,
Cleopatra's Chair,
Elaterite Butte and Ekker Butte,
the white rim sandstone that forms a sharply-defined rim
above the lower level canyons and made of ancient coastal sand dunes,
and the Land of Standing Rocks 15 miles southwest of here.
We drove out almost to the end of the road at White Rim
Overlook, but our feet were too tired to do a nearly 2 mile hike. On the way back north, we stopped at Buck
Canyon Overlook, where we could see Buck Canyon and the La Sal Mountain Range
to the east.
Our feet may have been tired, but our eyes never tire of
looking at the beautiful canyons of Utah.
After leaving Buck Canyon, we had one last stop: Mesa Arch.
Since it was one of the most photographed points in the park, there were
several people at Mesa Arch when we reached it.
But I think we saved the best of Canyonlands for last!
As the sun set further in the western sky, the colors on the
canyon walls intensified into deeper oranges and reds.
As we walked away from Mesa Arch, I kept turning back trying to capture one more memory of Utah.
And one more picture of some of Utah's flowers!
We were so glad we hiked one more mile so we could see beautiful Mesa Arch! Every single bit of Utah that we saw was absolutely gorgeous. I expect we will visit Utah again some day!
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