Utah: Moab – Canyonlands National Park

🏜️ Moab: Beer, Bikes and a Lot of Very Red Dirt

We based ourselves in the small town of Moab for a few days, and very glad we were too. Moab sits in Grand County, Utah, and has been a proper going concern since the 1870s when Mormon settlers first moved in, followed sharpish by uranium miners in the 1950s who briefly turned it into a boomtown. These days, thankfully, the uranium is largely left alone and the town makes its money the more sensible way — off the back of tourism. And there is a very good reason for that. Moab is plonked right next to the Colorado River and is flanked by not one but two spectacular National Parks, which gives it a rather useful selling point.

People come to Moab for activity holidays — white water rafting on the Colorado, mountain biking on trails that would give most sensible people a nosebleed just looking at them, rock climbing, hiking, and what Americans cheerfully call “off-road motoring,” which the rest of us recognise as driving a very large vehicle slowly over rocks while pretending it’s normal. The result is that Moab is very much a young person’s town, with more outdoor clothing shops, cycle hire outfits and Jeep rental places than you can shake a trekking pole at. There are also, naturally, plenty of bars, because even the most committed trail runner needs somewhere to sit down and feel sorry for themselves of an evening.

It also has its own brewery, the Moab Brewery, which has been knocking out decent craft beers since 1996 and has a restaurant attached so you can conveniently work through the menu without having to relocate. We also decided to try a place in town called Eddie McStiffs — and yes, it is exactly as brilliantly named as it sounds. You can well imagine the sort of atmosphere that generates on a busy Saturday night in high season. We called in during the lull between lunch and dinner, which suited us entirely, as we just wanted to sit quietly and sample a few of the local micro-beers without anyone attempting to involve us in anything energetic.

Our main reason for coming here, of course, was not to drink beer — although this turned out to be considerably more enjoyable than we had any right to expect — but to visit two extraordinary National Parks: Canyonlands and Arches, both of which sit just a few miles outside town.

🏔️ About Canyonlands National Park

Canyonlands is the largest national park in Utah, established as such by President Lyndon B. Johnson back in 1964, and its sheer diversity is genuinely staggering. It covers roughly 527 square miles of canyon country carved out over millions of years by the Colorado and Green Rivers, which between them have done a rather magnificent job of making the landscape look as though someone has been at it with a giant chisel. The park wasn’t exactly easy to reach back in the day — it remained largely the preserve of hardy explorers well into the 20th century — but things have improved considerably since then.

The easiest way to see the park is a visit to the Island in the Sky district, which sits only 32 miles (51.5 km) from Moab. Island in the Sky offers numerous pullouts with views along the paved scenic drive, and hiking trails and four-wheel-drive roads provide access to backcountry areas for day or overnight trips.

The Island in the Sky perches atop a massive 1,500-foot mesa — quite literally an island in the sky, as someone with a gift for the obvious once noted. Around 20 miles (32.2 km) of paved roads lead to some of the most spectacular viewpoints in all of Canyon Country. From up there, on a clear day, you can see over 100 miles (161 km) in any direction, taking in thousands of square miles of canyon, butte and mesa. It is, frankly, absurd. You can take a short day-hike or simply park yourself somewhere sensible and watch the sunset do extraordinary things to the rock, which costs nothing and is considerably less exhausting.

Although Canyonlands is one park, it divides neatly into four distinct regions — three districts plus the rivers themselves. There is Island in the Sky, The Needles, and The Maze, each separated by the Green and Colorado Rivers. Getting from one district to another takes hours, so most visitors very sensibly pick one area and concentrate on that.

Island in the Sky is the most accessible, closest to Moab, and boasts that paved scenic drive with sweeping views of buttes, fins and water-carved canyons, along with numerous hiking options. The Needles is considerably less accessible, requiring more time, more strenuous hiking, and either a four-wheel-drive vehicle or a decent boat to reach its more dramatic corners — but the backcountry landscape it delivers is among the most dazzling on earth. And even the Needles feels like a roadside B&B compared to the frankly alarming remoteness of The Maze, isolated west of the Green River and aimed squarely at seasoned explorers who enjoy suffering. If you prefer your adventure slightly more horizontal, river trips on the Green or Colorado are also available, which lets you see the whole show from a boat.

🚙 What to See — and How We Saw It

After a bit of research ahead of our visit, it became fairly clear that the best way to properly explore Canyonlands was not by sticking to the paved scenic route like a couple of sensible tourists, but by heading out on the off-road tracks that cut through the park itself. There were three options: go on foot (too far to cover in the time we had, and frankly our knees had an opinion about that), set off on mountain bikes (we didn’t have ours with us, which was either an oversight or a blessing depending on how you look at it), or go off-road in a vehicle. We chose the latter, having limited time and unlimited enthusiasm for sitting down while moving.

We decided against taking our own Jeep. She had clocked up 160,000 miles of generally loyal service and we didn’t entirely trust her with the kind of terrain Canyonlands was going to throw at us — and we still needed her to get us home afterwards, which felt like a reasonable consideration. So we hired a modified Jeep Wrangler instead, finished in a rather splendid olive green colour, which meant it immediately and inevitably got christened Shrek. It suited her.

🏭 The Potash Road — Rivers, Rocks and Very Blue Puddles

We headed west out of Moab and after a couple of miles turned down the Potash Road, which does exactly what it says on the tin and leads, with very little drama, to a potash factory. Potash mining has been part of this landscape since the 1960s, when the Moab Salt Plant first started extracting potassium chloride from ancient evaporite deposits left behind by a long-vanished inland sea. The paved road hugs the mighty Colorado River for seven or eight miles before the tarmac quietly gives up and becomes a dirt track — at which point Shrek came into her own.

For the most part the going was reasonably smooth, with the odd bump to keep things interesting. As we climbed higher, the extraordinary potash evaporation pools came into view, scattered across the valley floor like something a child had painted. The chemicals in the water — primarily a copper sulphate solution pumped in to speed up evaporation — turn the pools a startling, almost unreal shade of azure blue. It looks completely wrong and yet utterly spectacular. Beyond them, the road dropped us into a wide, dry valley ringed by sandstone cliffs rising a thousand feet or so above us. Stark, silent and genuinely beautiful.

🌊 The Colorado River Canyon

We followed the track all the way to the very edge of the Colorado River Canyon, and it was one of those moments where you instinctively take a small step backwards. Far below us, the river — swollen and fast-moving with snowmelt from the Rockies — churned and muscled its way through the canyon it had been patiently carving for somewhere in the region of five to six million years. The drop from where we stood was several hundred feet of absolutely nothing, which concentrated the mind wonderfully. We were, shall we say, respectful of the edge. The views, however, were completely and utterly spectacular — the kind that make you forget, just briefly, that you are standing on a crumbling rock shelf with no railing and questionable footwear. Moving on, we reached a sweeping ox-bow bend where the river curved dramatically away, heading south-west and leaving us to our own devices as we picked our way carefully along a narrow shelf road cut into the upper canyon wall.

🪨 The Shafer Switchbacks — Going Up Was the Terrifying Part

Eventually we reached the end of the canyon, and from that point the only option was up. And by “up,” I mean properly, sphincter-clenchingly, why-did-we-agree-to-this up. The Shafer Trail has been clinging to these cliffsides since the early 1900s, originally scraped out by ranchers — the Shafer brothers, as it happens — who needed to move cattle between the canyon floor and the mesa above. Someone clearly had a very casual attitude to livestock welfare.

The Shafer Switchbacks wind upward for over 1,000 feet on the outside edge of sheer canyon walls, on a road that is — and I want to be precise here — roughly eight to ten feet wide. It is also, magnificently, two-way. So just as you are edging around a hairpin bend with several hundred feet of fresh air immediately to your right, around comes someone going the other way with the cheerful confidence of a person who has entirely failed to think this through. At the wider passing spots, one vehicle invariably ends up with its wheels alarmingly close to the void. We reached the top, climbed out of Shrek on slightly unsteady legs, and breathed again. We then paid a visit to the Island in the Sky Visitor Centre, where Ranger Karen gave a very calm and collected talk about desert wildlife, which was exactly the sort of wholesome, non-terrifying experience we needed.

🌉 Natural Bridges and Terrifying Drops

With the nerve-wracking climb up the Shafer Switchbacks safely filed away under “glad that’s over,” we set off again, this time taking a different trail back to Moab. The main attraction on this route was a series of natural rock bridges, formed over millions of years by wind and water erosion slowly working away at the sandstone — nature’s own civil engineering, and considerably more dramatic than anything you’d find on the M25.

To reach the bridges, there were some substantial boulders to negotiate. In Shrek, our modified Wrangler, we opted to go straight over the top rather than around them, which felt bold at the time and slightly idiotic in retrospect. Having done the Pink Jeep tour in Sedona, we had at least some idea of what these vehicles were capable of, so we went for it. At the bridges themselves, the drops fell away several hundred feet on either side. Jack, Emily and Karen — who are all considerably braver than me, which isn’t difficult — walked straight across. I stayed where I was and pretended to be busy with the camera.

🏜️ The Long Way Back to Moab

Leaving the natural bridges behind, we turned Shrek back towards Moab — but not before deciding, with the kind of collective wisdom that gets people into trouble in remote places, to take a detour down another track to the canyon floor. The trail was rough in the way that only American Southwest trails can be rough: clambering over large boulders, bouncing along a dried-up river bed and grinding up sand dunes that had absolutely no business being there. At one point we got ourselves thoroughly stuck trying to climb out up a sandbank. Several minutes of increasingly creative language followed, along with genuine concern about being wedged miles from anywhere with no passing traffic and no obvious plan. We made it out eventually, dignity largely intact, and got back on track towards Moab.

The final stretch involved another shelf trail dropping down the side of a cliff, but after the Shafer Trail had recalibrated our understanding of terror, this barely registered. Back on tarmac, we stopped at a vast sandbank we’d spotted the previous day. Jack and Emily had been desperate to climb it and roll back down, which sounded simple enough. It wasn’t. The climb up was a proper lung-burner, and the descent was a chaotic mix of running, tumbling and sand in places sand has no right to be. Jack’s hero is Bear Grylls, who makes this sort of thing look effortless on television. He does not, it should be noted, look quite so effortless in real life.

In summary …

Canyonlands National Park is one of the premier National Parks and for good reason. It is a vast park so seeing it all in one day is impossible and there is limited access on paved roads. If your time is limited then focus your visit on the Island In The Sky area.
Moab is a good place to stay during your visit. It is a little pricey to stay here but it is a great place to explore Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and the impressive Dead Horse Point State Park
It can get very busy in Canyonlands National Park and the parking lots fill up quickly – consider starting early in the morning or later in the day
This is a desert location so plan accordingly if you intend to hike and explore the more remote parts of the Park. Take plenty of water, sunscreen and hats.

Planning your visit

🏜️ Canyonlands National Park


📍 Location	2282 Resource Blvd, Moab, Utah 84532	🕖 Park Hours	Open year-round, 24 hours
🌐 Website	nps.gov/cany	📞 Phone	435-719-2313
🚗 From Salt Lake City	244 miles via I-15 S and US-191 S — approx. 4 hours	🚗 From Grand Junction, CO	122 miles — approx. 2 hours

✈️ Nearest Airports

Airport	Code	Distance to Park	Notes
Canyonlands Regional Airport, Moab	CNY	~45 miles	Closest; limited daily flights from Denver & Salt Lake City
Grand Junction Regional Airport, CO	GJT	~122 miles	Flights from Denver, Dallas, Phoenix, Las Vegas; best mid-range option
Salt Lake City International Airport	SLC	~237 miles	Largest; most international and domestic connections

🗺️ Park Districts & Visitor Centres

District	Distance from Moab	Phone	Visitor Centre Hours
Island in the Sky (most popular)	32 miles via UT-313 W off US-191	435-259-4712	Daily 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM (extended hours spring & fall)
The Needles	75 miles via UT-211 W off US-191	435-259-4711	Daily 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM (Mar–Oct); closed some winter months
The Maze (most remote)	46 miles via unpaved road from UT-24	435-259-2652	Hans Flat Ranger Station: Daily 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM

🎟️ Entry Fees

Private Vehicle	Motorcycle	Individual (on foot/bicycle)	Under 16s	Annual Pass (Arches & Canyonlands)	America the Beautiful Pass
$30	$25	$15	Free	$55	$80

ℹ️ The three districts are not connected by internal roads — each must be entered and exited separately. No food, water, fuel, or lodging is available within the park; the nearest services are in Moab. A 4WD vehicle with high clearance is required for The Maze district. Backcountry overnight permits are required and must be arranged in advance.

Entry fees are set by the National Park Service and may be subject to revision; visitors are advised to confirm current charges at nps.gov/cany before their visit.

Best Time to Visit Utah

🌸 Spring (March – May)

Spring is widely considered one of the finest times to explore Utah’s southern national parks. Temperatures are mild and pleasant, wildflowers begin to bloom across the desert plateaus, and the tourist crowds that descend in summer have yet to arrive in full force. Zion and Bryce Canyon are at their most accessible and inviting, with trails drying out after winter snowmelt and the landscape flushed with fresh colour.

March can still bring cold nights and lingering snow at higher elevations, particularly in Bryce Canyon, which sits above 2,400 metres. By April, conditions across most of the state are ideal for hiking, cycling, and photography. May is the sweet spot — warm days, cool evenings, manageable visitor numbers — though it does mark the beginning of the busier season, so booking accommodation in advance is advisable.

The Virgin River in Zion runs fast and murky with snowmelt through spring, which means the famous Narrows slot canyon hike may be restricted or closed. Always check conditions before setting out.

What to pack: Layering is essential — a lightweight down jacket, a waterproof shell, and moisture-wicking base layers cover the temperature swings. Comfortable hiking boots with ankle support, UV-protective sunglasses, a wide-brimmed hat, high-SPF suncream, and a reusable water bottle. Trekking poles are useful on muddy or uneven trails. Pack a light fleece for cool evenings and a small day pack for hiking.

☀️ Summer (June – August)

Summer brings the most visitors to Utah, and for good reason — long daylight hours, dry skies, and lively park atmospheres make it a popular choice for families and those seeking maximum outdoor time. However, it also brings intense heat, particularly in the lower desert parks. Arches and Canyonlands regularly exceed 38°C in July and August, making midday hiking genuinely dangerous. The sensible approach is to hike at dawn, retreat to shade or air-conditioned accommodation during peak afternoon heat, and venture out again in the early evening.

Bryce Canyon and Cedar Breaks, sitting at higher elevations, offer welcome relief from the heat and are excellent summer destinations. Southern Utah’s monsoon season typically begins in mid-July, bringing dramatic afternoon thunderstorms that can cause flash flooding in narrow slot canyons — always check weather forecasts before entering confined trails like The Narrows or Antelope Canyon.

For those willing to escape the crowds, northern Utah’s Uinta Mountains offer superb summer hiking and camping at elevation, with cooler temperatures and fewer visitors than the national parks.

What to pack: Lightweight, breathable clothing in light colours, a sun hat and UV-protective sunglasses, a high-SPF suncream (SPF 50+), a hydration pack or multiple large water bottles, electrolyte tablets, and a headlamp for early starts. A light waterproof layer for afternoon monsoon storms, quick-dry fabrics, and sandals for camp. Insect repellent is useful for forested areas. Book campsites and accommodation months in advance.

🍂 Autumn (September – November)

Autumn rivals spring as the best overall season to visit Utah. The crushing summer heat begins to ease by September, crowds thin considerably after the American Labour Day holiday in early September, and the landscape transforms with spectacular warm tones. Cottonwood trees along canyon floors turn gold, scrub oak flushes red and orange, and the clear blue skies of September and October provide perfect conditions for photography.

October is many experienced visitors’ preferred month — daytime temperatures hover around a comfortable 15–22°C in most parks, the light is rich and golden, and the national parks feel spacious and unhurried once again. Higher elevation areas such as the Wasatch Front and the Uintas begin to see snow from October onwards, marking the start of the ski season build-up. November brings cooler temperatures and the possibility of early snowfall at elevation, which can be beautiful but requires additional preparation.

The Zion Narrows, often inaccessible in spring due to high water levels, is typically at its finest in late summer and early autumn when flows are low and temperatures are manageable.

What to pack: Versatile layering including a mid-weight fleece, a windproof and waterproof outer jacket, and light base layers. Sturdy hiking boots, warm socks, and a woolly hat and gloves for higher elevations. Sunglasses and suncream remain essential even in autumn. A small tripod is worth carrying for golden-hour photography. Neoprene socks and a walking pole if attempting The Narrows, and waterproof trousers for wet canyon hikes.

❄️ Winter (December – February)

Winter in Utah is a tale of two experiences. For skiers and snowboarders, it is nothing short of exceptional. The Wasatch Range near Salt Lake City — home to resorts including Park City, Alta, Snowbird, Deer Valley, and Solitude — regularly receives some of the deepest, lightest powder snow in the world. Utah’s ski season typically runs from November through April, with peak conditions in January and February.

The national parks take on an entirely different and deeply beautiful character in winter. Bryce Canyon’s pink and orange hoodoos dusted with snow are among the most photographed sights in the American West. Crowds are minimal, accommodation prices drop significantly, and the silence of the desert in winter is profound. However, many trails become icy and require microspikes or snowshoes, and some park roads close seasonally.

Temperatures at night in the southern parks can drop to -10°C or below, and roads to higher viewpoints may be closed. Despite these challenges, winter offers a genuinely magical and uncrowded way to experience Utah for those prepared for cold conditions.

What to pack: For skiing: thermal base layers, ski-specific mid-layers, a waterproof and insulated ski jacket and trousers, ski socks, goggles, a helmet, and neck gaiter. For national park visits: a heavy insulated jacket, waterproof trousers, thermal underlayers, sturdy waterproof boots, warm hat, gloves and scarf, microspikes or snowshoes, hand warmers, and a thermos. Suncream is still necessary as UV reflection off snow is intense.

🏆 The Overall Best Time to Visit

If you are planning your first — or only — trip to Utah and want the ideal balance of weather, trail access, scenery, and manageable crowds, late September to mid-October stands out as the single finest window. The summer heat has passed, the monsoon storms have largely subsided, and the autumn colours add warmth and drama to landscapes that are already extraordinary. Most trails are fully open, temperatures are comfortable from morning to evening, and the parks feel genuinely peaceful compared to the height of summer. Spring — particularly April and early May — runs a very close second, offering similar conditions alongside the freshness of wildflowers and snowmelt-fed waterfalls. Whichever season draws you, Utah rewards the prepared traveller with scenery that is, quite simply, unlike anywhere else on earth.

Other places close by worth visiting

1. Arches National Park

Arches National Park sits in the high desert of eastern Utah, USA, and is home to over 2,000 natural sandstone arches — more than anywhere else on earth. The landscape is stark and dry, shaped by millions of years of erosion, freezing and thawing, and the slow movement of salt beneath the ground. The rock glows red and orange in the sun, and the arches themselves range from small openings you might barely notice to massive spans like Delicate Arch, which stands 20 metres tall and has become something of a symbol for the state of Utah. The park sits at around 1,200 to 1,700 metres above sea level, which means summers are hot but not unbearable, and winters bring occasional snow that settles briefly on the warm-coloured stone. Walking trails vary from short, easy paths to longer routes over uneven slickrock. It is a popular destination, particularly in spring and autumn, and visitor numbers have grown significantly in recent years, so the park now requires timed entry permits during busy periods. It is a straightforward but genuinely striking place — the sort of landscape that is hard to picture until you are standing in it.

2. Capitol Reef

Tucked away in the south-central part of Utah, Capitol Reef is one of America’s lesser-visited national parks, though it has plenty to offer anyone who makes the trip. At its heart is the Waterpocket Fold, a nearly 160-kilometre wrinkle in the earth’s crust where layers of colourful sandstone have been pushed up and eroded over millions of years into cliffs, canyons, and domes. The park gets its name from the white sandstone domes that early travellers thought looked like the Capitol building in Washington, while “reef” was a term used for rocky ridges that made travel difficult. There’s a stretch of the park along Highway 24 that’s free to drive through, and a scenic road leads into the Fruita area, where you’ll find a small historic orchard planted by Mormon settlers in the late 1800s — visitors can actually pick fruit from the trees when they’re in season. The hiking ranges from short, easy walks to demanding backcountry routes, and the remoteness of the place means the night skies are genuinely dark and full of stars. It’s a quieter, more unhurried experience than some of Utah’s better-known parks, which for many people is precisely the appeal.

3. Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park sits in the high plateaus of southern Utah, USA, and is known for its striking landscape of red, orange, and white rock formations called hoodoos — tall, thin spires of rock that have been shaped over millions of years by the slow work of frost, rain, and wind. Despite its name, Bryce Canyon is not actually a canyon but a series of natural bowls carved into the edge of a plateau. The park sits at elevations of between roughly 2,400 and 2,700 metres, which means it can be surprisingly cold, even in summer, and snowfall is common in winter. Visitors can walk along the rim or descend into the amphitheatres on a network of trails that wind through the hoodoos at close range. The area is also recognised for its exceptionally dark skies, making it one of the better places in the United States for stargazing. It covers around 145 square kilometres and receives roughly two million visitors each year.

4. Zion National Park

covers around 230 square miles of canyon country. The park’s most striking feature is Zion Canyon, a narrow gorge carved over millions of years by the Virgin River, with sandstone walls that rise up to 800 metres in places. The rock shifts between deep reds, oranges, and creams depending on the light and time of day. Visitors come to walk the park’s varied trails, from flat riverside paths to steeper routes that follow chains bolted into the rock face. The most well-known of these, Angels Landing, ends at a narrow ridge above the canyon floor and requires a permit to access. Wildlife is common throughout — deer, wild turkeys, and California condors are regularly spotted. The park receives well over four million visitors a year, making it one of the busiest in the United States, so early mornings tend to be quieter. Entry is straightforward, and a shuttle bus runs through the main canyon during the busier months.

Where to stay?

1. Needles Campground

Tucked into the remote Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, the Squaw Flat Campground is one of Utah’s most rewarding places to wake up under the stars. Surrounded by the park’s iconic red and white banded sandstone spires — the “needles” that give the district its name — campers enjoy direct access to some of the best hiking in the American Southwest. The 26 sites are spread across two loops, offering a surprising amount of privacy for a national park campground. Come sunrise, the warm light sets the canyon walls ablaze in shades of amber and rose. It’s a longer drive from Moab (about 75 miles), but that distance keeps the crowds thin and the silence gloriously intact.

2. Under Canvas Moab

If you’ve ever wanted to sleep under a canopy of desert stars without sacrificing a good night’s rest, Under Canvas Moab might just be your answer. Nestled seven miles north of Moab near Arches National Park, the resort is surrounded by the towering plateaus, sandstone cliffs, and geological wonders of Utah’s Canyon Country. This is glamping in the truest sense — canvas tents come furnished with full beds and linens, wood-burning fireplaces, and a sense of being completely immersed in the desert landscape, while still offering the creature comforts you’d expect from a boutique hotel. As one of the world’s first International Dark Sky resorts, Under Canvas Moab lets guests experience the night sky in extraordinary fashion, with special Stargazer Tents featuring a viewing window directly above the king-size bed. By night, staff build a communal bonfire where guests gather, swap stories, and bond beneath the starry desert sky — a reminder that the best adventures are always shared ones.

3. Mainstay Suites

MainStay Suites Moab is a solid home base for exploring one of Utah’s most iconic adventure destinations. Tucked just minutes from the trailheads of Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, this extended-stay property offers spacious, apartment-style suites complete with full kitchens — a welcome perk when you’re planning multiple days of hiking, mountain biking, or off-roading through red rock country. The no-frills, practical layout suits both weekend warriors and longer-stay travelers who’d rather spend their money on park passes than room service. An outdoor pool provides a refreshing retreat after dusty desert trails, and the convenient location along Highway 191 puts restaurants, gear shops, and the charming Moab strip within easy reach. It’s comfort without the fuss, right where you need it.