Canyonlands National Park

Just an explanation on how Canyonlands National Park was established.

Sixteen years ago Nolan and I vacationed in Moab and rented a Jeep to explore.  This is Schafer Road.  It starts outside the park but this series of long, stunning switchbacks are in the park. These switchbacks provide scenic views of the Colorado River basin and the LaSal Mountains. The road ascends to the mesa top, joining the paved road in Canyonlands National Park.

View of the La Sal Mountains from the mesa top.

Schafer Road as it approaches the mesa.  I remember coming toward the mesa on this road.  I wondered where the road went because I had no idea that we were going to the top of the mesa.

Our next stop in Canyonlands was the trail to Mesa Arch.  This is a short walk.

A view of the arch from a distance.  You might need to double-click to see it.

A closer view.

We climbed to the top of the arch and looked across the top.




I just couldn't resist.  I didn't have a problem getting there but I almost froze to the spot once I got there.  It was a very long drop off each side of the arch.



A view from the side of the arch.

Read all about this soil in the next photo.

 

Another shot of the soil

Our next stop was this overlook.

We were way up and you can see that the land falls off even further to the river.

 

The sign at the visitor center said the La Sal Mountains in the background are 152 miles away.  Amazing.

Just another scenery shot as we left the park.