Canyonlands National Park
Canyonlands was the first national park we visited on our road trip out west in June 2023 and certainly one of our favorites. We stayed in Moab, Utah and made the 40 minute drive from our hotel to Canyonlands around 6:00 in the evening.
The evening was the perfect time to go because the park was practically empty and the views were gorgeous at sunset. The visitor centers were closed so if you have a National Parks Passport Book, you won’t be able to get a stamp. By the way, I highly recommend purchasing a passport book. You can find them for about $20 in any visitor center or park store throughout the United States. The book has a ton of information about the parks and are broken down into regions. Take your passport book to any national park visitor center or park store and get your free ink stamp with the date and location of your visit. It’s a cool souvenir to have.
Canyonlands is divided into districts including Island in the Sky, The Needles, and The Maze. We had about a 40 minute drive from Moab to Island in the Sky. We parked at the Island in the Sky visitor center. Since we arrived at 6 pm, the center was closed.
We walked across the road to the Shafer Canyon Overlook. The view was breathtaking.
From the Shafer Canyon Overlook, it is a short walk to a wide plateau with amazing views.
The views from Shafer Canyon Overlook were, we thought, the best in the whole park. As you can see, there was hardly anyone in the park.
About 6 miles past Shafer Overlook, we parked on Grand View Point Road and walked about 10 minutes to Mesa Arch.
After Mesa Arch we drove about 10 minutes to Grand View Point, which is at the very end of Grand View Point Road. Grand View Point has one of the best views in the park and you can see Monument Basin.
From Grand View Point, we headed back towards the Island in the Sky Visitor Center and stopped at Green River Overlook on the way.
We stayed at Green River Overlook for a while and watched the sun set.
We headed back to Shafer Overlook to stargaze. We were there for about an hour and realized we would need to stay for another hour or two to see the stars so we called it a day and headed back to our hotel in Moab. Canyonlands, without a doubt, was one of our favorite parks.
