Canyonlands 8

Canyonlands National Park in Utah is one of my favorite park. It is divided in three parts: Islands in the Sky, the Needles and the Maze.

This trip was a figure eight loop through the Maze and the Needles district involving some light canyoning and class I packrating.

Starting not far from Elephant Hill and Big Stream are and going North toward Elephant Canyon and the Colorado River

They are many cool fossils when canyoning down the chutes. Close to the Colorado the trail can also become a stream.

Climbing up from Spanish bottom and the Colorado river with an incoming storm

The Doll House and the crest trail are very scenic

More advanced route climbing at the end of Horse canyon and crossing the imposing Maze

The Maze canyons are truly huge with views on these so typical peaks

End of the float making it back to the confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers

Cargo fly zipper failure. Harsh desert elements and freezing temperatures were a good lesson

After climbing back to the Needle districts I got excellent weather and crossed some more imposing valleys