If you are from Utah, or are planning on visiting, Canyonlands National Park is a place that needs to be on your checklist. There’s no shortage of National Parks in Utah, in fact, the island in the sky district of Canyonlands is located about a 30 minute drive from Arches National Park, another great place to visit.

Canyonlands is divided into 3 areas by the Colorado and the Green river, which split the park into 3 different districts, the island in the sky, the needles and the maze. The Island in the sky district is the most visited part of the park and the closest to get to if you are staying in the near town of Moab.

Island in the sky is a mesa that sits about 1000 ft higher then the surrounding area, which gives you some beautiful views of the Canyons all around you, some really amazing landscapes. Some of our favorite hikes here are the classic Mesa Arch and also the views from the Grand View Point at the end of the road, both short hikes.

If you are planning to camp in the park, there is a campground called Willow Flat, which has 12 camping spots that are all first come first serve, now, if you can’t find a spot here, there is a good amount of BLM land surrounding the park, BLM stands for Bureau Of Land Management, they manage our public lands and make it possible for us to make use of these spaces, read more on their website blm.gov to learn more. Having said that, Here’s a map provided by the BLM showing the public land right outside the park. Make sure to check the roads before you go on any BLM road, some roads you might need a 4×4 vehicle to get through.

Here’s a few pictures of our time there.