The second area I discovered on my adventure to the area around Moab was Canyonlands National Park, specifically the Needles Area, much of the Islands in the Sky is seen from the Needles, and from Dead Horse Point. My visit to Needles made me realize how huge, beautiful, and amazing this area of Utah is. As I mentioned in the first post, I think a re-visit to Moab is needed… Next time with film.
Canyonlands National Park is located south of Moab. The park contains colorful landscape eroded into numerous canyons, mesas, and buttes by the Colorado River and Green Rivers, President Lyndon Johnson created the park on September 12, 1964.
The first superintendent of Arches National Monument, Bates Wilson began exploring the area to the south and west of Moab in the early 1950s. After seeing what is now known as the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, Wilson began advocating for the establishment of a new national park. In September 1964, Bates Wilson became the first superintendent of the new park. He is often referred to as the "Father of Canyonlands.
Canyonlands National Park is divided it into three districts by the Colorado River and Green River, called the Island in the Sky, the Needles, and the Maze. Most of the photographs below are of the Needles and the Islands in the Sky districts. The maze is somewhat inaccessible by car, and given the scarcity of water is a little dangerous to adventure into alone. The Island in the Sky district is a broad and level mesa in the northern section of the park, between the Colorado and Green rivers.
The Needles district is located south of the Island in the Sky, on the east side of the Colorado River. The district is named for the red and white banded rock pinnacles which are a major feature of the area. The Ancestral Puebloans inhabited the Needles district and some of their stone and mud dwellings are well-preserved, they also created rock art in the form of petroglyphs, most notably on Newspaper Rock along the Needles access road, I've included a shot of Newspaper Rock below.
A section of the park located north of the Maze district and largely inaccessible is Horseshoe Canyon which contains panels of rock art made by hunter-gatherers from the Late Archaic Period. (2000-1000 BC) This pre-dates the Ancestral Puebloans who lived mainly in the Needles district. The artifacts, dwellings, pictographs, and murals in Horseshoe Canyon are some of the oldest in America.
Here's some photographs of the Needles and Islands in the Sky District of Canyonlands.
Enjoy!
Dean.
