Leslie and David's Wanderings: 10 April 2021 Canyonlands NP

We awoke in the morning, maybe feeling a little bit more tired than usual, but nothing that would slow us down. We headed for Canyonlands National Park. There is a side road out of Monticello that takes you up through Manti-La Sal National Forest. We were surprised to find snow was still on the road in a couple of places, but nothing that was a issue. The road connects into Utah 211, which takes you to the Needles District of Canyonlands NP. There are three Districts in Canyonlands, Needles (south of the Colorado River), The Maze (west of the Green River) and Island in the Sun(north of the Colorado River and East of the Green River). The Maze can only be reached by some very technical four wheel drive roads, something we would not be able to do in the Behemoth. There is also the Horseshoe Canyon Unit to the west. We plan to visit the Needles District from Monticello, Island in the Sky District from Moab and the Horseshoe Canyon unit from Hanksville).

Our first stop was Newspaper Rock. The rock panel at Newspaper Rock is covered with Petroglyphs dating back from 800BC to 1300AD as well as some graffiti from the 1800s to 1950s. The number of images are amazing. It’s a shame we have not figured out what they mean.

The road into the NP was amazing. We stopped at the visitor center for the Needles District of Canyonlands NP. The visitor center was closed for COVID, but the shop was still open. But somehow we hit it during lunch time again! So we got our passport stamp, talked with the rangers and picked up or park maps. We decided to eat lunch while we wait for the shop to reopen following lunch. While we ate our lunch in the Behemoth, we plotted our strategy. Being a bit more than 24 hours after having our COVID vaccine shot, we decided we should not push it too far. So we decided to do Colorado Overlook primitive road. The reviews suggested the first 6 miles were sandy but the last mile was climbing over “slick rock shelves”. David went up and talked to the ranger about the road conditions and decided it sounded “doable”. After perusing the shop and picking up our “usual”, we headed out on the Colorado Overlook Road. After about ½ mile we hit our first deep sand and after plowing through we dropped the Behemoth into 4 wheel high in order to handle the deep sand. We made it about 6.5 miles, including crawling over some really rough and technical rock sections when we came around a corner and David stopped. One look was all it took for us to decide that was as far as the Behemoth should go. So we backed up to where we could make a 9 point turn with the Behemoth on the narrow road. We found a place to park and hiked the last mile to the overlook where the Colorado River has carved a series of gooseneck canyons. With the Needles on the far side of the canyons, the view was incredible. After taking the view in and shooting lots of pictures, we headed back to the Behemoth. The road past where we had stopped was not something the Behemoth was built for. Several, foot or more, tall ledges to climb over and lots or rough slickrock. We watched one truck crawl past us and the poor passenger was hanging on for dear life. Were glad we walked it. We took the longer route back to Monticello and stopped at the Church Rock for a few photos before arriving back at the Wanderer.

Later that evening, Leslie spiked a low fever from the vaccine, but shook it off with a hot shower!