Islands in the Sky - Part One

Back in June 2013, I introduced you to the "Ghostly Mustangs of Dead Horse Point" which is reached by traveling down Route 313; eleven miles outside of Moab. Now we're going a bit further down the road, crossing from Grand County into San Juan County, to experience Canyonlands - Island in the Sky. Of the three sections of Canyonlands (Needles, The Maze, Islands in the Sky), Islands is the largest; itself being divided into three sections; so, sticking with the theme of three, this adventure will be in three parts.  How long will it take to visit Islands?  What a ridiculous question;  as long as you want it to take of course!  There are many trails to hike; and walking to the Overlooks will be over sandstone, slickrock and sand; the only thing paved in this park is the main roadway.  Roy and I spent six hours there and still didn't get to walk as any trails as we would have liked to; we did make sure to get as much of an eyeful as possible though.  There were clouds moving in all day, we heard thunder in the south; by 5:30 that evening, the rain began to fall down.  Best get started then, aye?

 

Route 313 is an exquisite drive in itself; sandstone walls reaching up to the sky; the remnants of an old railway trestle will be on the right hand side; reminding us of Moab's mining days of the past.

There will be a parking area for Merrimac and Monitor Buttes; this will be an additional shock to the senses, but there is still more to come!

Merrimac Butte (left), Monitor Butte (right)

You'll come up to a sign directing you to either Dead Horse Point (to the left), or go straight for Islands; I highly recommend you take one hour and explore Dead Horse Point.  This is the Overlook for the famous Gooseneck formed by the Colorado River, the "white horse" silhouette on the canyon floor, and "Thelma and Louise Point", where the Grand Canyon scene was actually filmed for the movie.   Whether you go here before or after Islands, do not miss this site!


While you have been riding in Grand County, you'll eventually pass a sign stating you are now entering San Juan County, the true home of Canyonlands National Park.  Once you pay your fee at the toll booth, or show your National Park pass; visit the Visitors Center which is not too far away; and the Shafer Trail Overlook just happens to be directly across.  Oh, by the way, there will be two types of rangers available at the Park, the human and the raven; the ravens have their wings in everything, as demonstrated with the photo of the toll booth.  The ranger inside informed us that he, the raven, was acting supervisor for the day.




The Shafer Trail can be accessed here at Islands; a winding, graded dirt road that hugs the hillside as you descend down into Shafer Canyon.  This trail will take you across Dead Horse Point into Long Canyon, and finally exit out onto Potash Road famous for Jughandle Arch, petroglyphs and the love of rock climbers, Wall Street.  Driving down the Shafer Trail is on our "to-do" list for 2014.

To the right, there is an SUV on the road, so you can get perspective.

Pyramid Butte

Down the road a little further will be the pull in point for "The Neck"; another view of the Shafer Trail and the canyon below; but cross the road and you will get a most excellent viewing of "Neck Spring".  There is a loop trail (considered moderate in difficulty) that goes down into Neck Spring for hikers; estimated time to complete the trail is 3 to 4 hours.

Neck Spring

Now here is one of the most wondrous features of this stretch of roadway, Mesa Arch.  The trail itself is a half mile loop over sandstone steps and sand; surrounding you is a truly desert environment.  Mesa Arch is spectacular, but what you see from the arch will blow you away as much as the arch itself.  The White Rim off to the right; Sandcastle Tower, Washer Woman Arch and Monster Tower are directly left through the arch; behind them is Airport Tower; the La Sal Mountains in the far distance.  The visitor's guide says, "30 minutes", but if you do not spend at least an hour experiencing this section of the Park, then you're not truly there to experience it at all.  With Mesa Arch, the top is flat and wide enough to walk over, and we saw a couple of guys do it; however, they did say that the wind got stronger up there.  The other side of the arch is a sheer drop off to the canyon floor below, so I wouldn't recommend doing this at all.


First view from the trail.









Interesting Rock Formation along the trail.



Sandcastle Tower is the lower section behind Washer Woman Arch; Monster Tower in front of WW Arch; Airport Tower is lighter colored tower behind them.



View of the White Rim.

View of the White Rim from Mesa Arch.

This is the end of Part One; the beginning of Route 313 into the Park and down to Mesa Arch.  Bet you've been wondering where the map is on this post, well I'm not one to disappoint.

In Part Two, we'll be making the right hand turn at the junction after Mesa Arch; first coming to the Green River Overlook and heading all the way to Upheaval Dome.  Until then...

Mary Cokenour

Canyonlands, the Needles District - Part Two or the Whole Enchilada.

A good many people who visit the Needles District expect to be up close and personal with the formations that they have seen on postcards, in travel brochures or in books about the area. Not going to happen; well not going to happen unless you are going to do the eleven mile hike to Chesler Park or Elephant Canyon; or the 7.5 mile hike from Big Spring Canyon. Then there is the Needles Overlook located in the Canyon Rims Recreation Area; yes, you'll be a bit closer to the Needles themselves and the hike will only be about nine miles. I wanted to get this information out of the way immediately as this is one of the top questions I usually get asked.   Should you not go to this Park then if you cannot be as close as you want to the Needles?  That's up to why you want to go; how important is it to you to simply experience the area, or is a photo all you want?  If it's the latter, then simply buy a photo and be done with it; for the former, well keep reading and see what other adventures await you in Canyonlands - The Needles District.



View from our picnic area.

So we now follow our intrepid adventurers, Roy and Mary, as they have left Cave Spring and are back on the paved road heading towards Elephant Hill.  The road eventually turns to unpaved, graded roadway, but is car accessible just like the road to Cave Spring.  All along the road we saw awesome formations of sandstone, and slickrock dropping off into canyons.  We stopped at one pull-in point to have our picnic lunch; the sandstone in the area had formed itself into, what we saw as, little tables, so how could we resist the invitation to dine.  As we ate, folks driving by would wave and shout out "Hello!", and we would answer back in kind; it was a most memorable and pleasant experience.  We did a little exploring and I found a sandstone rock that the swirling wind and sand had formed into a seashell shape.  I so wanted to take it home, but a photo would just have to do.  After cleaning up our dining area, back on the road we went and couldn't help noticing how the formations began to resemble the legs and feet of elephants.  Now at the very end of the paved road is a parking area, with picnic tables for those who don't want to sit on the ground or rocks I guess.  The Elephant Hill Trail itself  is for hiking or Jeeps; I know brochures say 4 wheel drive vehicles, but a sign at the trailhead said Jeeps required for trail driving, so...anyway, three miles in will bring you to the Chesler Park Overlook.

Sandstone rock formed into seashell shape
 



Nearing Elephant Hill Trail

We dumped our garbage into the trash bins at the picnic area and ended back out towards Pothole Point. Roy was especially looking forward to this spot as he often talked about how microscopic marine life (brine shrimp mostly - remember "sea monkeys"?) lives in the holes. That is if there is water in the potholes, and with the drought season we were in at the time, no water; therefore the life was in hibernation.  The views in the area are spectacular though, from the Needles to the White Rim located at Canyonlands - Islands in the Sky (accessible via Route 313, eleven miles north of Moab).  Again you'll notice how the elements of wind and water have formed the sandstone into interesting formations.

Hole "drilled" into sandstone wall by the elements.

Now before I post photos of the Needles, we're going to make the last stop on the paved road at Big Spring Canyon Overlook.  Once again you can see out as far as the White Rim and even a formation called "Murphy's Hogback".  In one photo I left the information sign and road barriers in, so you can see the sheer immenseness of the formations in the area; it definitely leaves you in awe.  From this area, the hike to the Needles themselves is only 7.5 miles; closer than the eleven miles from other places.  We were so busy dealing with our eyes popping out of our heads (not literally of course) from viewing this area to even look for the Needles.  Don't say I didn't warn you about this section of Canyonlands having lots of great adventures within it.

Murphy's Hogback and the White Rim in the Distance.

 

 

Just to let you know, taking photos of the Needles, from a distance, can be rather difficult due to the haze.  Even though I had a hood attached to my zoom lens, the haze still caused unclear photos and I've done my best to clean up the ones I am posting.  The Needles are red and white spires of Cedar Mesa sandstone; hundreds extending for miles!  It doesn't really matter if you're not up close and personal, it's impressive from near and afar.  Between both of our cameras, we might not have been able to take National Geographic quality photos, but we can happily say, "We were there and we saw them!".

Raven flying through the spires

 

I've read some reviews on Canyonlands - The Needles District and they were negative because of the distance from the paved road viewpoints to the Needles themselves.  As I said earlier, if all you want is a photo, then go buy one; if you want to experience a park full of astounding natural formations, then visit and enjoy.

 

Mary Cokenour