Canyonland (Part 2)

 OK, I know you're going to be sick of hearing this, but once again there is no real way to convey what we experienced today. We went to the Needles District of Canyonland National Park. 




It is in the southern portion of the park and is quite remote. It was a hour twenty minute drive from Moab. We got the 9isj and mediately went to the visitors center only to hear that they we expecting rain after noon. We hightailed it to the trailhead as we picked an 8.7 mile hike that would take 5-6 hours. The hike was the Lost Canyon Loop, and it was appropriately named.  It was a canyon that was totally hidden as you ce to it from above and then hiked down into it. The terrain was sooooo varied, from green trees and trickling water to unearthly rock formation that looked like sets for a science fiction movie. During much of the hike we were always looking for these:



As I mentioned before these are cairns and they mark the trail when it is solid rock so you walk from one to the next. This hike however began wij a traditional looking dirt trail, flat and easy although a lot of loose sand. But, quickly rocks appeared and the


landscape changed. Soon we were off the ordinary and onto the extraordinary




Then we came to this. It is hard to tell from the
 picture but that is to top of Lost Canyon (on the left). The second picture is looking into the canyon.












Here are some shots going down into the canyon, the at the bottom.


















































We did actually get caught in a little rain, but we brought ran gear so we weren't soaked. If you ever want to do some camping and hiking, Needles is the place to go. There are only a few dozen campsites so it's not like going to a Michigan State campground and there are plenty of hikes to fill a few days. It is also a dark sky area so you can view the Milkyway (not that we were there at night. Right now we are in Joy and Bernie's log cabin in Torrey UT, population 400. This is home of Capitol Reef National Park. 

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