The drive from Arches to Canyonlands was only about 35 minutes. Canyonlands NP is divided into three sections by the two rivers that dominate it, the Colorado and the Green. Their confluence makes a Y that is in the center of the park. We drove into the center of the Y, called Island in the Sky. The eastern side of the Y is Needles, the western side of the Y is the maze, there are no paved roads into it. The road from the east which we took dead ends at the cliff above the rivers. The entrance to the Needles is from the south, over an hours drive from where we started at Arches. Canyonlands was the least interesting of the parks. Here is a picture of the Green river from the cliff above it.
I’m standing about 10 feet from the edge. If it looks like a wasteland or moonscape to you, it did to us too. The river turns left and meets the Colorado. There is another vista point overlooking the confluence, it looks just like this picture but you can’t see either river, they are too deep in the canyon. The La Sal mountains could be seen from Canyonlands.
We got to camp inside the park again, 3 for 3 now. This time we got a spot in a first come first serve CG. The main campground is in Needles section, it requires a reservation. We didn’t go to Needles and on a whim drove through the small campground in Island in the Sky and got lucky again.
It snowed hard on the campground starting around 9:30. I was seriously worried for a while, but it only lasted about 20 minutes. All snow was a melted by 9:30 when we left.
One new bird, Juniper Titmouse. Not rare at all but I hadn’t seen one yet. The two I saw were one of only three species I saw in the park.
Roses 1.0 Van Life 