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Visiting the Island in the Sky: Canyonlands National Park
Canyonlands National Park offers some of the most enthralling vistas in the American West. Blanketing more than 520 square miles of the Colorado Plateau, it conceals winding river canyons, towering rock pinnacles, and ancient Native American settlements. The Colorado and Green rivers are the prime sculptors in the area. Aided by erosion, they have chiseled out a tapestry of gullies and mesas that fans out over the vast desert landscape. The majority of this immense area remains an obstacle for all but the heartiest back-country explorers. But in Canyonlands’ Island in…
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Hiking in the Canyonlands Needles District
Canyonlands National Park is a rugged wilderness of buttes and mesas that sprawls outward in a tapestry of oranges and reds. The Canyonlands Needles District is one of four distinct areas within the national park. It is an oft-forgotten wonderland of stone pillars that jut skyward like blunted needles. Among the area’s towering rock garden, it conceals some of the best hiking trails in the American Southwest. Although it isn’t as heavily trafficked as other areas in Utah’s Mighty 5, the hiker’s paradise boasts bewitching vistas, diverse topography, and unforgettable…
