Going to Canyonlands National Park

What to do in Canyonlands National Park

by Kate Siber

When Canyonlands National Park was established in 1964, parts of the park still had not been surveyed. Now, the desert wilderness sees some 400,000 annual visitors, yet it’s surprisingly easy to find solitude. In the Island in the Sky district, mountain bikers speed along 100-mile White Rim Road for expansive views over the park’s earthen cracks. Nearby, rafters and kayakers ply Class IV rapids in Cataract Canyon, one of the Colorado River’s last free-flowing sections. In the Needles district, hikers wind around red-stained pinnacles. Few make it to the remote orange buttes and mesas of the Maze, one of the great wildernesses of the continental U.S. Of course, Canyonlands’ beauty lies not only in its sweeping vistas but in its details as well—like the lipstick hues of spring wildflowers and the ancient petroglyphs in little-known crannies.

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