A grand view at Canyonlands

Southwest of Arches in Utah is Canyonlands National Park, a part of the Colorado Plateau centered on the meeting point of the Colorado and Green Rivers. The landscape of this area is dominated by the deep valleys forged over eons of time by the rivers. I spent only a few hours in the park, exploring a small part of “Island in the Sky”, one of several major sections of the park.

Fisheye view of the canyon formed by the Green River.

Candlestick Tower in the Green River Valley.

At the southern tip of Island in the Sky, the meandering Colorado River flowing from the northeast meets the meandering Green River flowing from the north. A short trail leads out along the edge of the mesa presenting tremendous views of the deep canyons in a panoramic view from the southeast to the west. The canyons are immense in size and spectacular in their topographic variety.

From atop the mesa, the first “level” of the canyons consists of a drop of over a thousand feet into wide expansive valleys. From there, there are canyons that descend further until finally one reaches deeper sinuous gorges. The rivers are so deep despite their massive erosional footprint that they cannot be seen from the high mesas above.

On the Green River side there are a few reddish flat-topped buttes that stand out distinctly like crumbling Grecian buildings on the landscape. On the Colorado side, the deeply lobed gorge is decorated with a scattering of white-topped columns that reach up to the level of the upper basin. I think these would technically be called “hoodoos”. All of these shapes and colors are mesmerizing and one feels like soaring above to take it all in.

Junction Butte and the canyonlands around the confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers.

Reference

NPS. Canyonlands National Park map.

Columns within Monument Basin in the Colorado
River canyon.

Fisheye view of the Colorado River Canyon with Monument Basin at left.