Unique Sights Around Canyonlands National Park
An Overview of Canyonlands National Park
Known for its fantastic, dramatic landscape and desert scenery enhanced by the Colorado River, Canyonlands National Park is home to towering rock pinnacles, distant slot canyons, vast expanses and beautiful overlooks. Some of it’s most iconic features include the Island in the Sky mesa, the narrow natural formations known as the Needles and hidden Native American rock paintings. Overall, thanks to its ancient history and numerous, unique geological formations, there are many unique sights around Canyonlands National Park.
Unique Sights Around Canyonlands National Park
Newspaper Rock
This is a unique historic site with a rock surface depicting the largest concentration of Native American petroglyphs in Utah. The unique site found along the Indian Creek Scenic Byway has over 650 petroglyphs.
Bears Ears National Monument – Indian Creek Unit
Known as a vast series of red-rock canyons with plateaus, juniper stands and sandstone climbing routes, Bear Ears National Monument is a popular area for hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing and archeological sites.
Supercrack Buttress
This is one of the most popular rock-climbing sites near Indian Creek. The crack rises up a sheer natural stone wall with excellent views of the desert below.
Six-Shooter Peaks
Found within Bears Ears National Monument, these are twin, iconic sandstone summits with distinct profiles against the sky.
Church Rock
Found near the Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument, this is a strangely lumpy sandstone formation. The shape of the rock formation was incorrectly associated with Marie Ogden’s nearby utopian society, the “Home of the Truth.” The stone was actually dynamited at its base to create a storage space for salt licks and cattle feed.
Home of Truth
The Home of Truth is now a desert-bleached ghost town in San Juan County. It once stood as a short-lived utopian society with religious institutions in the 1930’s. The ghost town was originally led by a spiritualist named Marie Ogden.
Hole ‘n the Rock
This aptly-named roadside attraction is found in San Juan County. The site is based around a unique home carved from a sandstone cliff, lived in by Albert Christensen. The site, which was lived in by Christensen’s family, was open to public tour’s following his death.
Upheaval Dome
Found in Canyonlands National Park, this large enigmatic crater creates a powerful impression: A stark hollowed space roughly 6.2-miles in diameter. The crater’s origins are debated, with prominent theories suggesting meteor impact or a collapsed subterranean salt dome.
Needles District Canyonlands
This is a low-elevation portion of the park known for its colorful sandstone rock formations, beautiful erosion patterns and winding paths. It’s a popular area for hiking, camping and 4X4 tours.
Elephant Hill
This is a well-known 4X4 driving route following technically challenging roads through Utah, following steep grades, loose rock inclines and tough maneuvering.
Confluence Overlook
This is a somewhat easy dry trail following geological fault zones which shaped the Needle Districts of Canyonlands National Park.
Mesa Arch
This is an iconic, natural pothole arch found near the eastern portion of the Island in the Sky mesa.
Green River Overlook
This vista watches an incredible plateau deeply eroded and chiseled by thousands of years of flowing water from the Green River.
Great Gallery Rock Art
Found in Horseshoe Canyon, this is one of the most significant rock art panels in Utah, with figures standing over 15 feet tall, some of the best-preserved examples of prehistoric Desert Archaic culture.
Wilson Arch
This is a natural sandstone arch found in southeastern Utah.
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