May 15th, 2015...Canyonlands National Park

We got up this morning fairly early and over a cup (or two) of coffee we decided our plan on action for the day! Since there is completely madness and a million (or it seems) people in Moab and Arches today and tomorrow, we will flip our plans and go see Canyonlands National Park. There are two areas to see and it requirred a lot of driving. Something we seem to be doing lots of lately! :)

We went to the "far-end" of Canyonlands from where we are staying, to see it first then we will take in the other area tomorrow. 

LOTS OF DRIVING!

Though we did see lots of pretty things along the way, it was a lot of driving.
We went to this area of the park because we had heard "you must see The Needles", and from what we had read, we wanted to see them! Plus, we had read a lot about this was the area of the park you can see where the Green and Colorado River meet. So it seemed the thing to do today as both of those were on our list. 

I guess we needed to research this a lot more than we did...

We FINALLY got to the small but informative Visitors Bureau and picked up our map of the park and the hiking trail list. 

First disappointment:

We learned in order to see the Green & Colorado Rivers...it required a hike...a 6 hour hike...to be honest, Larry and I neither felt like we could do a 6 hour hike nor did we come prepared to do that long of one. Disappointing. Guess we didn't do enough research!

So, we looked over all the trails and tried to do as many as we could possibly fit in!
We were shocked (in a good way) at how few people were here. Some of the hikes we never saw a soul. That isn't a bad thing. Lots of pretty country. We did see The Needles...from a distance...another hike that require a lot of time and a permit to go to the base of The Needles. So...we did all the easier hikes and it was still very interesting.

The park started getting busier but only when we were fixing to leave, so that was nice.

Very interesting wall...
our boys had lots of questions about this drawings when we got home and showed them. They wanted of course to know what the story was...what the Indians were trying to say or tell about.
What do you think???

Another quite interesting hike....
it was fun to see this old "Cowboy Camp". My mind wandered to just how life was for them and how they used the resources around them. These canyons and deep "hang-over" cliffs gave them such protection from the elements but then again, how careful they had to be when it rained in making sure they didn't get caught in one of the canyons many flash floods that sweep through this areas without much notice at all!

 The hike including climbing some ladders...and when we got to the top of this one, this was the sight that was waiting for us! Again, it reminded us how blessed we are to be here and to have legs to do these hikes!

The area Larry is standing is called the Pothole Point Trail and it was interesting how these little potholes in the rock hold water, where tadpole shrimp & clam shrimp must lay their drought tolerant eggs so they can begin their little lives. Makes you realize how in nature, every little thing truly has its purpose!

For many years we have collected heart shaped rocks here and there and so I am always on the look for one. Didn't find one this trip...well...I did find some...but they were SOOO big I couldn't ask my B.O.B. to carry them. Instead I just took a picture of this heart shaped pot hole! 

And this was the view from the top of this hike...again...more interesting rocks!

 Below is the area called "The Needles"
Maybe "next time" we will be able to hike that area...I can only imagine how beautiful it would be up close.

 The layers of this rock blow me away...so fascinating!

A panoramic view of "The Needles"

 We drove back to Moab, filled up with gas and stopped for a coffee/expresso for LJ (he said it was time for either a nap or some expresso!) and then headed to the other part of the Canyonlands, which is only about 20 minutes from our Campground. We took in one short hike and visited the visitors centers, we made the decision to stop here today just so we would have a better idea of what to do tomorrow.

On that one hike, this is the view we had...crazy!!!!
 

The lighting-clouds-rain storms today made for some excellent colors in the horizon!

 Once again, there is something about that blue sky and blue distant mountains up against those red rocks...pretty stuff!

 And then the clouds lift a bit and there are some snow covered mountains...aahh!

 On our way back to Moab, we stopped at Dead Horse Point State Park, because several said it was well worth the time and oh my, we were blown away by all the beauty! Such amazing landscapes. We (I) took lots of pictures, no surprise.

We drove a ton of miles today and we were pooped. We cleaned up and then fixed supper. We are ready to kick back as it has been a long day! And share some cherry pie that we picked up at Capitol Reef before we left the park! Nice sweet ending to this day! :)