Bates Wilson, the first superintendent of Canyonlands National Park
entreated visitors to "come to our Wilderness, but be ready to rough it"
Canyonlands one of the youngest of our National Parks remains intentionally
one of the least developed. This rugged conutry with more rough, four wheel
drive only roads than paved ones, was visited in the early 1960's by stewart
Udall, the secretary of the Interior who saw park potential in this
spectacular but remote Canyonland at the Confluence of the Colorado and
Green Rivers. In 1964, this area until then regularly visited only by
cowboys and Uranium prospectus became canyonlands National Park. Its three
districts, Island in the sky, Needless and the maze are divided by the deep
canyons of the colorado and the Green Rivers. No Road links the three
sections of the park, each with its unique features.
The Island in the sky district, a lofty plateau that towers over the rest of
the park and reaches its limit at the confluence of the rivers, is the most
visited park of Canyonlands. Paved roads lead to Grand view point overlook,
where a Panoramic view of the rivers, the Needless and the Maze awaits and
to upheaval Dome, which is actually not a dome but a huge depression. Longer
hiking trails and rough, unpaved roads pass by stone arches and spines and
many sites of Ancestral Puebloan habitation, including well preserved
pictographs and petroglyphs. The maze a warren of finger-like box canyons in
the southwestern portion of the park, is accessible only by a rough, unpaved
road. This is least-visited district of the park and its rugged backcountry
rewards those who brave the trek into its heart with fantastic scenery and
wild rock formations in the land of Standing Rocks, the Doll House and the
Fins.
Address :
2282, West Resource Blvd,
Moab, UT 84532-8000.
Ph. : 435-259-7164 or 435-259-3911
Fax : 435-259-4285 |
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