We went from being in the canyon at Capitol Reef National Park to being high above the canyon at Canyonlands National Park.
We arrived at Canyonlands later in the morning and had our itinerary all planned out. Trent loves to read the “Moon Book” as we call it (Moon USA National Parks: The Complete Guide to All 59 Parks (Travel Guide) by Becky Lomax) and choose which hikes we should do. Once he picks out his favorites, we figure out how to plan the day to hopefully make it all work.
We stopped at the Visitor Center first and luckily they had gallons of water for sale. This area of Utah is HOT (100+ degrees everyday), so as you can imagine, we go through A LOT of water! There was a great overlook right across from the Visitor Center where we got our first good look at Canyonlands.
After the Visitor Center, we knew we wanted to spend our time exploring the Island In The Sky district (Canyonlands has 4 district districts). We began by visiting Mesa Arch. It’s just a .5 mile round trip hike, quick and easy, but amazingly beautiful.
We got back in the RV, laughed about this for awhile…
… then moved on to check out the view at Buck Canyon Overlook.
After this, we drove to Grand View Point where we planned on hopping out of the RV, checking it out, and moving on. We didn’t realize there was the most amazing trail that began from this overlook. However, once we caught a glimpse of this trail, we knew we had to hike it. It travels from the overlook, along the canyon edge, to the farthest point of the mesa.
The boys are super into parkour, so they are always finding ways to be “radical”. The bruises and bandaids on Dax’s legs prove just how radical he is, haha.
Don’t worry, we always keep a close eye on them. And of course we can’t help but get a little radical ourselves!
The trail was 2 miles round trip, and we all agreed that it was one of the top hikes of the trip so far. The views were incredible and it really was just fun!
Again, the views were unbeatable…
We took some pictures at the end of the trail before we raced all the way back to the trailhead. Originally, we had some more stops and another hike planned, but the unplanned Grand View Point hike took the remainder of our time. We were not disappointed!
And I’ll leave you with this picture, because every time we look at it we laugh for a minimum of 10 minutes. Enjoy!
Canyonlands National Park blew us away!
