After being out late watching the stars, we were a little sluggish getting up today. The drive out to the Needles section of Canyonlands would take us about 1.5 hours, so we finally got on the road around 9:30.

The drive to the Needles section was interesting to say the least. There was a crazy semi truck driver that was trying to pass 4 cars all at the same time, while on a single lane road! There was oncoming traffic and he had to get back over and almost ran the car behind us off the road! Then, he was right on our tail until he had the ability to pass us! Mind you, there were several times where it opened up to two lanes for passing- he was just impatient! AND he flipped us off as he passed! Scott was even speeding a little just so he wouldn’t crash into our back end- it was wild. We were able to watch him keep driving ahead and he almost crashed head on into another car! I don’t understand people!

The drive to the Needles section takes just two roads- 191 and 211. 211 is a road that has a lot of open range areas and ranches, which was cool to see. We even saw a rancher on his horse with his two dogs rounding up the cattle!

The Needles section is even MORE of a hikers paradise than Island in the Sky! There were only 4 hikes that we could do unless we wanted to do a 10+ mile hike again! We started at the Pothole Trail. Aptly named, this trail lead over tons of rocks with “potholes” in the ground. I tell you, the only thing with more potholes is Howe Road in Cuyahoga Falls! These potholes collect water and provide much needed areas for different life forms in the desert. We only saw one pothole that still had water in it.

 

The next hike we did was the SlickRock trail. This trail is named because of the slick nature of sandstone rocks when they are wet or icy. This trail came with 4 view points and a trail guide (my sister in law, Abbie, will cringe if she reads this 🙂 ). Each view point had interesting geological aspects to it, and the trail guide explained what to look for!

 

After SlickRock trail, we drove down the 3 mile gravel road to the Elephant Hill area. No hikes in this area are short, we just wanted to check it out! It was a cool little drive.

 

We continued back to the front of the park, stopping at Cave Spring. There was a loop trail that lead us past an old cowboy camp, prehistoric pictographs, and up two rickety ladders! It was neat to see the different parts of history!

 

Our last hike for the day was a really short loop to Roadside Ruins. This hike also came with a trail guide (sorry Abbie), which talked about all the flora and fauna we would see. The end goal of this hike is to see an ancient granary used by Native Americans to store their corn, seeds, and nuts. It was really cool!

 

We left the Needles section, saying goodbye to Canyonlands National Park. Definitely a cool little park, but mostly made for people who want to hike long distances. Maybe in the future and not in the summer, we will come back to explore these hikes!

On our way back on 211, we stopped at a little side spot called Newspaper Rock. This is an area where a ton of prehistoric, and some more recent, carvings are. You can very clearly tell which drawings are old, and which ones are newer. There was even some names carved in with what I assumed were birthdates! It was a neat little stop.

 

Our very last stop for the day was at the Moyo frozen yogurt shop in Moab- Scott knows the way to my heart! 🙂

 

We headed back to our campsite- happy to have had a mild day of hiking after yesterday! Tomorrow, we head back to Arches National Park to complete the rest of the hikes we have yet to do!