@NP.Adventuring - Canyonlands

Canyonlands National Park Website

Part 2 of our Spring Break 2019 trip - Canyonlands National Park. Or as the kids thought it was called, Candyland! We didn't really correct them about it when we were prepping for the trip so we had to buy them a bunch of candy at the gift shop to fulfill their Candyland fantasies.

Arches and Canyonlands are next door neighbors so there is no reason to not do one if you are going to do the other. Canyonlands is a really big park that is broken into four districts, and there are no roads that connect the districts even though they are right next to each other on the map. We've only gone to the Island in the Sky district, so I guess we need to go back another couple of times to hit the others.

The first hike we did is called Upheaval Dome. There is debate as to whether this crater was caused by salt dome or a meteor, with recent research leaning toward meteor. Either way, it's a steep little 1 mile hike with spectacular views when you reach the top. There is also lots of places to climb and explore around the rim of the crater. We spent a couple of hours playing around in this area.

We then headed off to go see Mesa Arch. It's another short hike, only 1/2 a mile, but you get to see the backside of this arch and look down the 1,200 ft high sheer cliff face. Plus you get to be judged by all the people that think it's unsafe to let your kids walk around on their own next to a cliff...... The last one we had time for was Grand View Point overlook. This one really lets you see the massiveness of the all the canyons in the lower parts of the park, and it's another place to let your kids get close to cliffs. It was then off to the Visitor's Center for some Junior Ranger badges.

This park rates at 4 out of 5 stars based on our standard criteria.

Rating Criteria: Fun, Scenic, Ease of Travel, Wildlife, Crowds

PIT STOP: Moab Giants dinosaur park. This is a fun little place to stop and learn about the dinosaurs that used to roam the area. They have a 5d prehistoric aquarium, dino dig site, playground, and a dinosaur walking trail that has life sized replicas of all the local dinos. The kids had a blast here.