Canyonlands National Park in Southern Utah is the most diverse of Utah's five national parks. The Colorado River has carved canyons out of the red rock Utah Desert, leaving isolated mesas rich with Ancestral Pueblo Indian heritage. The park is famous for its river raft trips on the Green and the Colorado Rivers. These trips can be arranged through outfitters, or planned well in advance as a private trip.
The non-river parts of the park are divided into three districts - Island in the Sky, Needles, and the Maze, along with the Horseshoe Canyon district, which isn't attached to the main part of the park.
The Island in the Sky mesa features the 100 mile White Rim Road, suitable for four wheel drive vehicles or mountain bikes. Permits are required for overnight trips, and there are designated camp sites along the road. In addition to the White Rim Road, there are many hiking trails along a scenic drive, some of which stay on top of the mesa, and others which go beneath the mesa rim to the bench beneath.
Needles contains sandstone spires similar to other southern Utah parks, and provides opportunities for hiking and four wheel drive exploring. One of the most interesting short hikes is the 1-mile Cave Spring Trail, which preserves a cowboy line camp and ancient pictographs. There are two ladders on the trail.
The Maze is the least accessible of the districts, as there are no paved roads into the Maze. You will need a four wheel drive vehicle to see most of it, although two wheel drive vehicles can use most of the unpaved road into the ranger station. Backcountry hiking is the way to see the maze, and there is one short-cut way of getting in - commercial jet boat shuttles from Moab, UT.
Horseshoe Canyon preserves rock art, most impressively, the Grand Gallery. Access is over an unpaved road to the west rim trailhead. From the trailhead, there is a 6.5 mile roundtrip hike to the Grand Gallery.
Canyonlands National Park has many different experiences for visitors, so careful planning is necessary for this national park to setup backcountry hikes, mountain bike rides, four wheel drive trips, or river rafting trips.
