Spring Break: Canyonlands

   Bailey and I take a girl's trip each year durning spring break. Since middle school it has been to CA, but we decided to change it up this year. We had an awesome two day adventure in Canyonlands National Park. We did lots of trail running, hiking, and exploring. We decided to be like hippies and only spend money on gas while we were gone. No hotel, and we'd bring any food we wanted to eat. SO MUCH FUN!

We figured out that the two of us fit pretty good in the back of the X-terra if we put the backseats down. We made a comfy bed in the back before we left. We were trying it out the day before we left, and we got curious how many of us would fit. We called Mark and Sawyer out and had them get in with us. We were laughing so hard! If you look at the second picture, it looks like we removed Sawyer's head and set it back down for the picture! :)

Our comfy hotel!

It's nice to know that two of us can fit nicely in the back of my car for a night, but any more than that is a tight squeeze! Nice head Sawyer! :)

The Needles:

We left super early on Monday morning and drove to the Needles entrance of Canyonlands. It's the farthest away from us (8 hours) and the smallest section of the park. We got there around 2:00 and our adventures began!

Roadside Ruin:

Our first stop was the Roadside Ruin. 700 years ago, the Puebloans lived in the area, and a few of their structures still stand. This one was just a short walk off the main road.

Wooden Shoe Arch:

Next was a view point for the wooden shoe arch. If you look closely at the picture, the hole in the middle rock looks like a shoe....kind of. Me and Bailey decided we would have been much better at naming the structures. We came up with some good ones.

Pothole Point Trail:

This was a fun area to explore. The needles looked really cool in the background. The pictures just didn't do it justice. The rocks were filled with potholes, and the ones that still had water in them had snails, beetles, worms, and shrimp in them. They try to complete their lifecycle before the water dries up.

Slickrock Trail:

This was our favorite spot (up to this point). We ran a 2.5 mile loop with the most beautiful views!

This guy landed on our car right when we pulled up and wouldn't let me out of the car. He saw that we had food, and he would have come right inside if we would have rolled down our window. 

His head was following Bailey's hands, because she had trail mix in them!

We loved this spot!

It was such a fun run on the slickrock. 

Big Spring Canyon Overlook:

This was a super cool lookout to explore! Plus we found out that there's a 10 mile hike that takes you down into the canyon. We want to go back and do some of the long hike sometime.

Elephant Hill Overlook:

We drove down a 3 mile dirt road to get to this spot. This is the place to get the best look at the needles. There is a 6 mile hike that takes you right out to them. We knew we wouldn't have time to do the full hike and still make it to our last stop before dark. So we took off running and made it a couple miles out to get a closer look at the Needles. Super cool hike! We want to do the full thing when we go back.

I love the red rock and red dirt trails!

Yes, that is two Baileys in one picture. We were having fun taking pano pictures.

Cave Springs:

Cave springs was our last stop for the day. There was an old cowboy camp and pictographs in a cave.

Cowboy camp!

Pictographs made from the rusty water in the cave.

We had two fun ladders to climb.

 Our last view shortly before the sun went down.

We ate dinner in the car before we headed out of the park. Our timing was perfect, because it was just starting to get dark as we headed out. We had a two hour drive up the road to the Islands in the Sky entrance. We wanted to stay the night close to that entrance, because we were planning a sunrise hike in the morning. It was a very slow drive, because there were deer EVERYWHERE! We ended up sleeping at very dark viewpoint all by ourselves. It was hilarious! We weren't too nervous about sleeping in the car, but we had to change in the dark outside the car. It was literally pitch black with no one around, but Bailey was standing outside the car saying, "I can't believe my butt is out here for the world to see!" It was a fun adventure, and we actually slept great!

Island in the Sky:

This is the most popular section of the park. It was breathtaking! We had a great, full day!

Mesa Arch:

We got up really early and headed into the park. Our first stop was Mesa Arch to watch the sunrise. It did not disappoint! So worth the early wake up time. 

This is a picture of all the photographers with their cameras all ready for the sunrise!

And then we have Bailey with her blanket and popcorn (for breakfast). She was all set for the show! :)

The arch and surrounding area were so pretty!

The sun starting to come up.

The underside of the arch (and surrounding area) glows red when the sun hits it!

Bailey went into the bathroom, then came back out and got my phone to take this picture. She thought the 'DO NOT use the floor' was the best!

Murphy's Point:

We did a 3.5 mile run out to Murphy's Point and back. Wow! I wish the pictures could capture what it really looked like! We thought this would be the best spot of the day, but the views kept getting better!

Buck Canyon Overlook:

White Rim Overlook:

This was one of our favorite spots! We took a gazillion pictures that all looked basically the same, but it seemed that every view was more spectacular than the last one. The phone was just not capturing how amazing it really was. Everyone should visit this area!

 We stopped at a random pullout on the side of the road, and the next three pictures unfolded. 

Mark texted and asked us how things were going. We said it was great and we only had a few scary moments and sent him this picture. We were cracking ourselves up.

Grandview Point Overlook:

This is the most popular place in the park. We got in the park really early, so we were pretty much on our own up until this point. This is an awesome, 2 mile, family friendly hike. We walked along the rim in the first picture until we got to the end of the cliffs. There were amazing views on each side.

The hike was a mile along this cliff edge to get out to the end, where you could look over both sides.

Look closely for Bailey jumping on the rock! 

Green River Overlook:

We brought our lunch out to this overlook. We thought life was great sitting on a rock, with a spectacular view, eating chips and guacamole, string cheese, and circus cookies. :)

Life doesn't get much better than this!

Aztec Butte:

This was an entertaining hike for me. We had to climb up a slickrock butte to get to the first aztec granary. Bailey did great on the way up, but the way back down was a different story. Coordination and trusting her footing are not her strong points. I was DYING! Even the old people made it down before her. At one point she was just stuck in a crab walk position on the side of the butte. A guy walked right past her and didn't even offer to help. He was probably trying to get away fast so he could laugh! Hahaha! We eventually made it down, and the second butte was a lot smaller and easier to navigate.

This was the first butte we climbed.

The few from the top was great!

We found the first granary.

The second butte had the granaries built right into the side of the hill. It's amazing how long they've lasted.

Whale Rock:

This was a mile hike up a huge rock. It wasn't very exciting, but we wanted to make sure we did everything.

From the top of Whale Rock.

Upheaval Dome:

This was an awesome hike with a few overlooks along the way. We loved this one! What makes it great is that it's not only the destination that is cool, but the whole hike along the way is unique and awesome.

Neck Springs:

We were gonna do our final and longest hike from here, but we decided to skip the hike and just see the viewpoint instead. Our legs were tired, and we wanted to get as far as we could driving home before the deer came out (because the night before was so scary).

It's a good thing we decided to leave a little earlier than planned. We had a 6 hour drive ahead of us, and just like we thought, the deer were EVERYWHERE again! We made it a long ways before they started coming by the road, but we had an hour of pretty scary driving. We were so tense! But we made it home safe and all the deer survived us.

We had a great trip! We can't decide if we want to go back there next spring break and skip the touristy stuff (since we've done it all) and just do the longer day hikes, or go to Capital Reef. Whatever we decide I'm sure will be awesome!