Canyonlands National Park

[Martin Hash]

Map.jpg

My wife, Gwynne, and I were visiting my mom in Salt Lake City, Utah. There are 5 national parks in Utah; 3 of which we had visited in the previous year. Coincidentally, the previous day’s newspaper in SLC had reported that this vacation season, which we were at the end of, Canyonlands was second only to Arches National Park, an hour to the north, in gate receipts, at over $800 million. We got in for free because we had a senior city pass, and judging by the other visitors, so did everyone else. The park was busy while we were there; finding a parking place was difficult; I can only imagine what it would have been like during peak attendance!

In 1961, the Secretary of the Interior was going to a conference at Grand Canyon National Park. On his flight, he flew over an area in Utah that he thought should also become a national park, and so Canyonlands National Park, 527 square miles, was designated in 1964. It is located at the confluence of the Colorado and Green rivers, which carved two large canyons into the Colorado Plateau, dividing it into three districts called the Island in the Sky, the Needles, and the Maze. Mammals inside the park include black bears, coyotes, skunks, bats, elk, foxes, bobcats, badgers, ring-tailed cats, pronghorns, desert bighorn sheep, cougars, desert cottontails, kangaroo rats and mule deer. 273 species of birds inhabit the park, plus 11 species of lizards, 8 species of snake and 6 amphibians. The highest recorded temperature was 105 °F and the lowest was −13 °F. Average annual precipitation is 9.33 inches. There are an average of 59 days with measurable precipitation.

Our goal was to do at least 3 hikes. The first, “Mesa Arch Trail,” was indicated as “easy,” but there was no way someone with limited ambulation could have managed traversing it. Gwynne & I laughed at the idea but our expectations were really blown on the second hike along “Aztec Butte Trail,” also listed as “easy,” which was one of the most challenging casual climbs I’ve ever been on; hands and feet crawling up a steep 60 degree rock face, 100 feet above the canyon floor. If we had not seen other people ahead of us, younger people because the folks our age didn’t attempt it, we might not have pursued it. At the top was an ancient stone structure of indeterminate use; not impressive but at least something as an achievement for our perilous adventure. On the way back, if asked, we warned older people, especially those with walking sticks or fear of heights, that maybe observing from a distance was the best resort.