Canyonlands National Park
Canyonlands National Park, established on September 12, 1964, is located in southern Utah and spans across four counties: San Juan, Wayne, Garfield, and Grand. Covering an area of 337,598 acres, it is the largest national park in Utah, characterized by its stunning landscapes of canyons, buttes, and mesas shaped by the Green and Colorado Rivers. The park is divided into four distinct districts—Island in the Sky, the Maze, the Needles, and the rivers themselves—each offering unique experiences ranging from accessible scenic drives to remote backcountry adventures.
Canyonlands is renowned for its diverse ecosystems, home to a variety of plant and animal life adapted to the desert climate. Popular activities include hiking, mountain biking, and camping, with trails catering to all skill levels. Among its many ecological features, the park has been recognized as a Gold-Tier International Dark Sky Park, making it an excellent destination for stargazing. Canyonlands has a rich history, with evidence of human habitation dating back over 10,000 years, showcasing the area’s cultural significance and the ongoing need for preservation. In recent years, visitation has steadily increased, making it a favored alternative to the more crowded Arches National Park nearby.
Canyonlands National Park
Park Information
- Date established: September 12, 1964
- Location: Across San Juan, Wayne, Garfield, and Grand Counties in Utah
- Area: 337,598 acres
Overview
Canyonlands National Park is a diverse national park located in southern Utah near the town of Moab. It is the largest national park in the state and, as its name suggests, is made up of canyons and buttes carved out over time by the Green and Colorado Rivers. The park is made up of four districts, with the rivers serving as one district and Island in the Sky, the Maze, and the Needles making up the other three land districts. The park is predominantly made up of red rock canyons, mesas, and buttes with a diverse ecosystem of plant and animal life. With a number of hiking and biking trails, Canyonlands is a popular destination for hikers, mountain bikers, and campers. Areas of the park range in accessibility, meaning there are areas for less experienced hikers and family-friendly routes, along with longer, more treacherous trails for those looking for more of a challenge. There are also a limited number of paved roads and scenic drives throughout the park for those who would rather take in the beauty from their vehicles. Annual visitation to the park has climbed steadily since it opened in the 1960s, with 636,830 people visiting the park in 2023. Although popular, Canyonlands is a less crowded option than nearby Arches National Park, which is also located near Moab, Utah, and sees more than one million visitors each year.
History
People have been inhabiting and visiting the area now known as Canyonlands for more than ten thousand years. Throughout the years, different groups would move on and off of the land, as evidenced by the rock art they left on the canyon walls. Several Native American tribes inhabited the land over time, depending on what natural resources were available. These groups included early hunter-gatherer societies such as the ancestral Puebloans and Fremont people. Other groups arrived later, including those from the Ute and Paiute cultures and the Navajo. Explorers, ranchers, and cowboys later made use of the land as a winter pasture spot for their herds, living in primitive camps throughout the area.
The idea to designate the land as a national park was first discussed in the 1930s, when then-interior secretary Harold Ickes first envisioned creating what he called Escalante National Monument. The idea died off somewhat and was not really brought up again until the 1950s and early 1960s, when Bates Wilson, who was the superintendent of nearby Arches National Monument—which itself was made a national park in 1971—pushed for the area that is now Canyonlands to be made a national park. Wilson took government officials on tours of the area, and then-interior secretary Stewart Udall, who joined one such tour in 1961, took the idea back to Washington, DC, with him. Utah senator Frank Moss introduced the Canyonlands park bill in 1962, and in 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the law establishing Canyonlands National Park.
Geology and Ecology
The landscape of Canyonlands National Park is broken up into four districts by the Green and Colorado Rivers. The rivers themselves serve as one district, and they dissect the land to form the other three. In addition to creating the canyon landscape over thousands of years, the rivers serve as a vital part of the ecosystem of Canyonlands. They provide the necessary moisture for nearby plant life to survive, in addition to serving as a crucial water source for the animals that live in an otherwise desert landscape. Some animals that live within the park include river otters, mule deer, mountain lions, beavers, raccoons, and skunks. There are also a number of fish and aquatic insects that rely on the rivers for their survival, along with numerous birds who feed off that aquatic life.
The park’s three land districts are known as Island in the Sky, the Needles, and the Maze, and they vary in terms of accessibility and remoteness. Island in the Sky is the most visited district, as it is the most accessible. It offers expansive views from overlooks on a paved scenic drive, in addition to several hiking, biking, and all-terrain vehicle trails. The Needles is more remote and offers visitors a backcountry experience that requires more hiking or four-wheel driving to visit. The Maze is the most remote district and requires more time and experience to visit, making it a destination for more seasoned hikers.
Despite its primarily desert landscape, Canyonlands National Park features a wide variety of plant and animal life. Vegetation thrives throughout the park and acts as a vital component to the ecosystem within Canyonlands. It includes colorful wildflowers, lichens, cottonwoods, cacti, yuccas, and mosses. The plants fall under the categories of drought escapers, which only grow when favorable conditions exist; drought resistors, which typically need less water; and drought evaders, which only grow near rivers and streams. Some plants have adapted to their surroundings over time, like the Utah juniper, which can self-prune during a drought and divert fluids from one or more branches in order to conserve enough water for survival.
Animals have also adapted over time to survive the desert climate of Canyonlands. Although there are some animals active during the day, including squirrels, chipmunks, snakes, hawks, and eagles, many found within the park are nocturnal and are only active at night to escape the heat of the day. Some animals even alter their active times of day depending on the season. Nocturnal animals rely on the darkness in the remote areas of the park for survival, making the reduction of light pollution within the park an ongoing conservation effort. The park features night-sky ranger programs that allow visitors to experience near-total darkness, and therefore more stars in the night sky than they can see at home. Efforts at the park to reduce light pollution have garnered its designation as a Dark Sky Park. In 2015, the International Dark-Sky Association named Canyonlands as a Gold-Tier International Dark Sky Park.
Bibliography
“Canyonlands National Park.” Discover Moab, 2018, www.discovermoab.com/canyonlands-national-park/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.
“Canyonlands National Park.” National Park Foundation, 2018, www.nationalparks.org/explore-parks/canyonlands-national-park. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.
“Canyonlands National Park.” National Park Service, 12 June 2024, www.nps.gov/cany/index.htm. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.
“Canyonlands National Park.” Visit Utah, 2018, www.visitutah.com/places-to-go/most-visited-parks/canyonlands/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.
“International Dark Sky Parks.” International Dark-Sky Association, darksky.org/idsp/parks/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.
“See Some of the Most Significant Rock Art in North America.” National Geographic, 5 Nov. 2009, www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/national-parks/canyonlands-national-park/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.