Canyonland National Park is only 40 minutes Southwest of Moab, UT, and is Utah’s largest park with more than 337,000 acres (around 527 square miles) of deep canyons, towering mesas, pinnacles, cliffs, and spires. Canyonlands has more than 70 marked trails that cover several hundred miles. Canyonlands National Park is divided into four districts, which although close geographically, require two to six hours by car between each. The closest district to Moab is Island in the Sky, also likely the most well known and accessible. Island in the Sky is basically a huge mesa top, with 1,000 foot drops and panoramic views in all directions.

Learn more about the park on the National Park Service website at Canyonlands National Park.

The five or six major overlooks can all be visited in less than two hours by car. But there are also dozens of trails and campgrounds to explore. We visited Canyonlands in June, and were somewhat constrained by the heat. So, we focused our visit on the major overlooks and a couple of short hikes.

Green River Overlook was the most interesting and memorable to us, and is about seven miles from the entrance and visitor center. This overlook has a great view of the Green River as it makes it’s winding way from Northeast Utah’s Flaming Gorge National Recreation area to Canyonlands National Park where it joins the Colorado River. We had a special affinity for the Green River, since we had rafted the Yampa River a couple years prior and it flows from Colorado into the Green in Northeast Utah. It was really cool to see it from this vantage point!

View of Green River from Overlook

We also enjoyed the nearby (and famous) Mesa Arch, an easily accessible view from a hike of less than 0.5 miles.

View through Mesa Arch

The South end of the park road is the Grand View Point Overlook, which offers an amazing view of The Maze (another Canyonlands District) and the lower Green River. The Maze also has a lot of hiking trails, but is reachable only with a backcountry permit.

View from Grand View Point Overlook

Our last stop in Canyonlands added something to our “to-do” list for the future. The Shafer Canyon Overlook is really interesting in it’s own right, as it takes you out on an end of the butte that is completely detached from the rest of Island in the Sky except by a narrow path.

View from Shafer Canyon Overlook

The view from Shafer Canyon Overlook is just as awe inspiring as the other overlooks, but then you realize there’s a road crossing the canyon below.

Shafer Trail

When you follow the road up the canyon wall, you realize that you could drive down the canyon to the road and across the canyon floor! This looked really cool, but we were pretty close to dark and at the end of a long day. We chalked the Shafer Trail up as something we might want to do the next time we visit Canyonlands National Park!