Thursday, June 7, 2018

Sunday 3rd June 2018 - The Needles at Canyonlands Utah

 Sunday 3rd June 2018 – The Needles at Canyonlands Utah                                                                                                                       
Well, what can we say, we were travelling towards Moab and The Arches National Park when we stopped to take a photo of Church Rock and have some lunch.  


Church Rock


We saw a sign into the Needles section of Canyonlands.  As it was 35 miles in there we contemplated for a while and even rang to see if there were any campsites available to be told no it looks like it’s all full according to the website.  Well we know by experience that that is not always correct so decided to go in anyway and if need be come back out and camp somewhere else.
The fires near Durango did us the biggest favour as this has to be the most awesome place we have ever been in.  It’s similar to the Grand Canyon although not as deep and no river at the bottom but you just drive through all these fantastic rock formations.  Monument Valley on speed.  We’ll show you some photos but as usual it won’t do the landscape justice.  The 35 mile drive in seemed like about 10 minutes as we were just gobsmacked at the scenery and you didn’t notice the miles at all.








Monday 4th June 2018 – Still at the Needles Utah

Okay, so of course we got a spot to camp and even had a choice of about 5 sites as one whole campground was just for walk ups.  We got up this morning and went for a hike of about 6 miles climbing over boulders and along cliff edges and even up a section where you had to hang on to a chain like Ayres Rock. It was a fantastic hike and was so interesting that once again we didn’t notice how many miles we were walking.




Use your imagination


Angry bird





From the top you could see for miles and from here you could also see why this section of Canyonlands is called ‘The Needles’.


We had a little ‘Ranger Talk’ in the amphitheatre last night for entertainment.
This is so good we’ve paid for a second night.  We’ll have a rest this afternoon and do another hike towards evening when things cool down a little.



Some gnarly looking wood


There he goes, he's just got to keep things tidy




This is the view from our campsite, Minnie found the magic pudding man



We're not sure what these little squirill like creatures are but somebody told us they were called mountain lions, I guess that's a nickname


A leisurely ride through the campground



Truly awesome rock features on the way back out


Petroglyphs at Newspaper Rock


   

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