Three Long Needles Day Hikes

The Needles District of Canyonlands National Park in southeast Utah is remote but a spectacular hiker park. There are many different trails and routes to follow, but if you want a long day hike that is representative, there are a few choices.

The trail to the heart of the Needles is the Chesler Park Trail. Start at the Elephant Hill Trail Head that is along a side road near the Squaw Flat Campground. The trail heads south with mostly easy walking toward Chesler Park, a wide open area surrounded by the sculpted Needles. This area has a network of trails and there are several options, including Druid Arch and Devils Kitchen. The Elephant Hill 4WD road also heads for the heart of the Needles and can be used to make a loop route. It is about a 6 mile round trip to Chesler Park and back. Druid Arch is an 11 mile round trip. The Needles formations are the Cedar Mesa sandstone layer, a deeper layer than the Entrada sandstone that features the arches found in Arches NP.

The Canyonlands Park is divided into three districts by the Colorado and Green Rivers. These two famous western rivers flow together in the middle of the park. The Confluence Trail, at the west end of the district leads 5.5 miles to an overlook of the confluence, a view from 1000 feet above the rivers. This trail starts off descending into a canyon then climbing out and uses some of the distant 4WD roads towards the end of the trail. The two rivers usually are different in color and the flow of each can be clearly viewed.

On the east side of the Needles District, the Salt Creek and Horse Canyon area has enough water to have supported the people who lived here before the arrival of pioneers. The Salt Creek Trail leads toward Peekaboo Springs and an excellent example of the rock art that can be found in the area. The hike to Peekaboo is a good destination, and further up Horse Canyon is the Paul Bunyan arch and the Tower Ruins site. Peekaboo Springs is a 5.4 mile round trip. Hiking all the way to Tower Ruin, past the Paul Bunyan Arch is a 9.6 mile round trip. Be sure to carry plenty of water on any of these hikes.

Hidden Rock Art

The Needles District of Canyonlands National Park in southeast Utah has a number of Rock Art Panels hidden in the canyons. Some of them are near trails and are well known, but sometimes in remote and hard to get to locations.

There are probably many others that are less known and not along any well traveled routes. This one is very good and not along a well traveled route. There are two side by side panels in an east facing alcove. The panel to the right has a gallery of reddish broad shouldered figures. The alcove is near a tamarisk filled creek in some white sandstone outcrops.

There are many white hand prints in the overall work also, some covering the reddish figures. The alcove overlooks a level area where mostly sagebrush is growing.

The panel to the left is mostly hand prints, some red and some white, and some direct prints and some outlines. This hidden panel is about 1 mile north of the Needles Visitor Center.

Lockhart Basin Trail to Pelican Arch

The road to Lockhart Basin and Hurrah Pass starts about two miles east of the park entrance to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park in southeast Utah. The first 2.9 miles is easily drivable and passes the Hamburger Rock camping area toward a crossing of Indian Creek.

I started my hike right at the Indian Creek Crossing 2.9 miles down the road. Right at that point is the Indian Creek Falls, about a 20 foot drop off. In early November the Indian Creek was dry except for a brown pool at the base of the falls. In spring, the crossing could be more than a foot deep. I didn’t get to see any flowing water, but my feet didn’t get wet hiking across. The road swings to the right after the crossing, then turns left and climbs away from the creek. A hiker can take a shortcut and climb directly up a sandy hill toward some arch looking rock formations and get back on the road.

The road follows along the creek for a while, then turns away and continues north toward the base of the Needles Overlook point. The top of the Needles Overlook is one of the short hiking attractions of the Canyon Rims Recreation Area that can be accessed off of Highway 191 north of the Highway 211 turnoff that leads to the Needles District of Canyonlands.

From that lofty viewpoint, the Lockhart Basin Road looks like a harsh and desolate area except for the green band of Indian Creek. A sign near the beginning of the road says it is 48 miles to Hurrah Pass. After Hurrah Pass, I think this road becomes Kane Creek Road and leads into Moab, connecting with Highway 191. During my hike I didn’t see any vehicles traveling along the road. There were several campers staying in the sites near Hamburger Rock.

About 2.5 miles down the trail there is a marked turnoff leading west down a small canyon drainage. The turnoff is labeled 25 by the Canyon Riders and is marked as being more difficult for drivers. About 0.5 miles down this side trail the Pelican Arch appears on the right.

Pelican Arch isn’t very large, barely big enough to crawl through. The Needles Overlook Point can be framed through the opening. The terrain in this area has a few scattered Utah Juniper Trees, Rabbitbrush, Mormon Tea and a few other desert shrubs. In a couple of spots the carved Needles formations can be sighted to the west.

Back at the Indian Creek Falls area, there is a pictograph panel a few hundred yards upstream that has white handprints and lines of dots. A short distance to the right of the pictographs there are some faint petroglyphs. My hike to the Pelican Arch took 3:00 hours for about 6 miles. It was a 60 F degree early November blue sky day and I drank 2 liters of water. I spent another 0:45 minutes looking upstream along Indian Creek for Rock Art and found just the two panels near the falls.

Chesler Park Trail to Devils Lane

The Chesler Park Trail is one of the most popular trails in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park in southeast Utah. It leads to the extensive network of Needles Trails, in the seemingly impenetrable area of towering carved sandstone formations.

There are several options for hiking to Devils Lane and the other parallel narrow valleys that are referred to as The Grabens. I started my hike at the Elephant Hill Trail Head and hiked the popular route for 2.7 miles, and turned right onto the northern segment of the Devils Kitchen-Chesler Park Loop. This segment continues for 2.3 miles to the Devils Kitchen backcountry campground area. The Devils Kitchen area is at the east end The Grabens. It took me 2:45 hours to arrive here, about 5 miles of hiking.

Devils Kitchen can also be directly hiked to along the Elephant Hill 4WD loop road. The tall wall formations near the beginning of the Chesler Park Trail reminded me of the Courthouse Towers in Arches National Park.

The Needles area is always amazing to hike through. This layer of sandstone is the Cedar Mesa layer, a relatively deep layer on the Colorado Plateau. It is well below the Wingate, Navajo and Entrada layers that appear in Arches National Park and other areas of the Canyonlands area. The vegetation in this area is dominated by Pinon Pines and Utah Junipers with small shrubs. There are small Gambel Oaks in a few places. The black crusty cryptobiotic soil is common along the trail.

From Devils Kitchen, it is 0.5 miles west to the 4WD road that runs in Devils Lane. The Devils Lane is a mostly level narrow valley between high rock walls and is a startling contrast from the jumbled and eroded area that surrounds it. The National Park Service has a web site that explains the formation of Devils Lane and the other Grabens. The plastic nature of the salt layer underlying the sandstone seems to be the key factor. The Grabens are thought to be sliding toward the Colorado River at a very slow rate. The hiking along the road can be tiring as the footing is very sandy. Despite the deposited soil, the vegetation is very sparse compared to the rocky canyon areas nearby.

About 1.0 miles south along Devils Lane, there is a pictograph panel on the right. The panel is mostly red hand prints with two notable foot prints. The rock art panel is protected under a small overhang. It is about a 3.0 mile round trip from Devils Kitchen to the pictograph panel. This was about a 1:15 hour side trip.

This panel seemed to be isolated. There are no obvious ruins sites nearby. The Canyonlands area seems to be rich in rock art sites but doesn’t show many habitation sites. There are some small granary storage sites in a few places. From the pictograph panel I returned the 1.5 miles back to the Devils Kitchen area and then followed the Elephant Hill 4WD road 3.5 miles back to the Trail Head. Near the junction of the 4WD road and Devils Kitchen, there is a small black hand print pictograph. My total hike was 11.5 miles in 5:30 hours. I carried 3 liters of water on a 65 F degree day in mid October.

Upheaval Dome Overlook Trail

The Upheaval Dome Overlook Trail leads to two view points of this unusual circular geologic feature. The round trip to the most distant view point is 1.6 miles. The trail head is at the end of the west leading road in the Island of the Sky District of Canyonlands NP is southeast Utah.

There are two theories attempting to explain Upheaval Dome. The more traditional explanation is that the salt layer below the accumulated sediment pushed upwards. The more recent proposal is that a meteor strike 60 million years ago caused the ¾ mile deep crater.

The trail has many steps carved into the rock to make the walk easier. Even with the relatively easy footing there are some ups and downs over the mostly bare sandstone that will make you stop to catch your breath. Most of the attention is directed toward the crater, but there are also scenic views on all sides. There is the 8.3 mile Syncline Valley Loop Trail that circles the Upheaval Dome and starts at the same point as the Upheaval Dome Overlook Trail.

The trail head area has a picnic area and was very busy on the day I visited. Most visitors stop at the first view point after 0.3 miles. I spent 1:10 hours on the 1.6 mile round trip on a mostly cloudy mid September day. I drank a full liter of water at the end of the hike.

Whale Rock Trail

The Whale Rock Trail is a 1.0 mile round trip to the top of a large sandstone outcrop in the Island of the Sky District of Canyonlands NP in southeast Utah.

The trail head is near the west end of the road leading toward the Upheaval Dome area. The trail head interpretive information emphasizes the adaptations the Pinon Pine and Utah Juniper forest plant community makes to survive in an area with only 9 inches of rain per year. The climb up on top is easy, though it looked like some railings that used to be in place have been removed.

From above it looks like the Whale Rock is actually at the head of a pod of whales circling around the outer edge of the Upheaval Dome. This short hike takes about 30 minutes,

Aztec Butte Trail

The Aztec Butte Trail is a 1.5 mile round trip to several Ancestral Pueblo granary sites in the Island of the Sky District of Canyonlands National Park in southeast Utah. The trail head is along the paved road that leads west toward the Upheaval Dome area.

The trail follows a sandy route that circles around the small butte that is in front of Aztec Butte. There is a spur trail that climbs the back side to a pair of granary sites just under the rim. I climbed the spur trail first before going on to Aztec Butte. The Canyonlands area doesn’t seem to have any large village sites but has a number of small storage sites and rock art sites.

Further on, Aztec Butte is about a 200 foot climb to the top with the granary sites under the rim on the north side. The butte is one of the highest view points in the immediate area. There are a couple of steep spots climbing up the sandstone face of the Butte that call for a little scrambling. I had a little trouble finding the right spots to put my feet at the point just below the rim but made it up.

On top there is a circular trail that I followed clockwise. There are several small sites along the somewhat narrow ledge overlooking the very deep Trail Canyon. The alcoves seem to feature a number of small arch formations that act as support columns and entryways. There are four or five sections of ancient walls along the length of the ledge.

There is also a circular structure on the top of the mesa. The Mesa Arch Trail area is visible only a short distance to the east. Also in this area of the park is the Green River Overlook. There isn’t a trail there but there is a glimpse of the Green River and the formations known as Cleopatra’s Chair and the Turk’s Head and others. There is also some discussion of John Wesley Powell’s expedition of exploration down the Green and Colorado River. He passed by the area of the overlook on July 16, 1869. My hike at Aztec Butte took about 1:15 hours for the 1.5 miles.