5 pictures
Canyonlands National Park
has three distinct regions;
these pictures are all from
the Island in the Sky unit.
It is reached by a long entrance
road (Rte 313) that starts from
US-191 about 6 miles north
of the Arches National Park
entrance.
You arrive on a high plateau
and on a clear day have a
fantastic long-range view.
Below you is another plateau
which, in turn, has a deep
canyon carved by two rivers
which merge within the park:
the Colorado and the Green
Rivers.
The snow- covered range of
mountains in the distance is
is near Blanding, about 40 miles
away.
You might barely see, on the
plateau below, faint traces of
roads that date back before the
park, left by prospectors for
uranium.
In the third and fourth pictures
of this set you can see the
steep descent and switchbacks
that provide access to those
roads. Needless to say, we
did not drive those in the
motorhome.
We include this picture because
it is one of the rare views that
shows the Colorado River in
the deep canyon.
It was not actually taken from
Canyonlands National Park,
but from Dead Horse State
Park, which adjoins it and has
a campground where we stayed.
