Canyonlands National Park – Meanderings & Mind Munchies

Mesa Arch

This morning I hauled myself out of bed at 5:00 a.m. so that we could drive to Canyonlands National Park to see the sun rise through Mesa Arch.

Our first clue that this plan might go awry was the packed parking lot when we arrived. After walking the short trail to the arch, this is what greeted us:

To say that I was disappointed would be a vast understatement.

Not only was the arch crowded with people, but they were all simply standing in front of the arch chatting with one another.

There was no way to get close to the arch, much less take a photo. And no one showed the slightest inclination to step aside for those of us who might like a photo without strangers in it. I confess that I may have experienced a significant degree of rage.

One guy had a tripod set up in front of the arch, taking a video of the sun rising. It was impossible to get a photo without having that tripod in the frame. I was so tempted to give it a little push right into the canyon! 🤬

I was also tempted to stand behind them with my cell phone at the ready and shout, “Smile for the camera! I want a record of all the assholes here this morning!”

I didn’t do any of those things, of course. Instead, Greg and I slunk away and headed to Grand View Overlook to see what that might offer.

This photo was taken from an overlook on our way to Grand View.

I won’t lie. I will be very happy when we are done with canyons on this trip. I am tired of seeing Greg teetering on the edge of cliffs, praying that he won’t lose his balance or trip and fall in.

I’m not really worried about falling in, myself, since I never get close enough to the edge. But my fear of heights is always triggered, nevertheless.

Grand View Overlook

We decided not to walk the trail at Grand View. The position of the sun made it difficult to see into the canyon.

I wish park maps would tell you whether an overlook was east facing or west facing. It would be really helpful!

Mesa Arch–second attempt

After Grand View, we headed back to Mesa Arch to see whether the crowd had thinned now that the sun had fully risen.

Yay! I was finally able to get my shot of the arch. And to be honest, I don’t think it would have been much better if I had been able to take it at sunrise.

Lesson learned.

I did get at least one pretty photo at sunrise, though…

Dead Horse Point State Park

On the way back to the campground, we stopped at Dead Horse Point State Park.

This state park is a hidden gem, and I wish that we had visited it earlier so that we could have taken better advantage of everything it had to offer.

As it was, all we really did was drive to the end of the park road and take some photos of the canyon.

We woke up to rain this morning, but that did not deter us. We headed off to Canyonlands National Park at 7:15.

Again, the entrance gate to the park was unmanned, but the visitor center was open. We grabbed a map and trail guide, then headed to our first destination.

Upheaval Dome

In an effort not to overtax ourselves, we’ve been trying to keep any individual hike to 3 miles or less. Upheaval Dome was 1.4 miles.

What we did not count on today were the gale force winds. OMG! I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced wind as strong as what was blowing today.

And unfortunately, nearly everything in Canyonlands National Park involves standing on the edge of a canyon. The wind added a dimension of risk that I did not enjoy. There were times when I struggled just to stay on my feet.

What you can’t tell from this photo is how hard I was holding on to Greg.

Upheaval Dome is believed to have been created by a giant meteorite.

After our experience with the wind at Upheaval Dome, we decided to forgo any more hikes, since they were likely to involve fighting against the wind while balancing on slickrock at dizzying heights.

Instead, we chose to continue our drive along the main road leading through Canyonlands National Park, stopping at overlooks along the way.