Canyonlands National Park

Photos of hiking Island in the Sky at Canyonlands National Park. Five hikes including two challenging but fun and short hikes, Aztec Butte and Whale Rock.

The Green River and Colorado River divide Canyonlands National Park into four sections: Island in the Sky, The Needles, The Maze, and the rivers. Island in the Sky was the closest to Dead Horse Point State Park so that was the section we explored.

Grand View Point Trail

In order to beat the Moab heat we got up at 6 am and headed into the park. Our first hike was the Grand View Point Trail which began at Grand View Point Overlook. From this overlook, we quickly understood why this park was called Canyonlands. For as far as we could see, there were colorful canyons of all shapes and sizes.

Aztec Butte | Mesa Arch

After Grand View Point Trail we took a quick drive to Orange Cliffs Overlook, yes we stopped there because it had orange in the name :) After eating our picnic breakfast we decided to hike Aztec Butte. This was a fun and challenging hike as we had to climb the steep sandstone slope to a dome-shaped butte. We enjoy the shorter but challenging hikes. They provide a nice change from the long, flat trails. We finished our day with the short hike to the very popular but definitely beautiful Mesa Arch. The views through the Mesa Arch were stunning.

Upheaval Dome

For day two we hiked Upheaval Dome to both the First and Second Overlooks. The formation of Upheaval Dome is still a mystery, and I thought that was interesting. One potential cause was that the salt dome cracked and tilted the rock over time and the second is that a violent meteorite impact instantly fractured the rock. Recent findings support the second cause.

Whale Rock | Shafer Point Overlook

Next, we hiked Whale Rock and the 360-degree views at the top were awesome while enjoying a snack with the whole rock to ourselves. We then drove to Shafer Point Overlook. From this overlook, you could see down into the canyons and the road restricted to high clearance 4-wheel-drive vehicles. Some day we will own a vehicle that we can take on an adventure like that.

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