One of the reasons I love Canyonlands so much is the ever present feeling you have of the raw, untameable power of this environment. Even just standing beside a road and looking from a view point you feel the place. The incredible beauty is always paired with a sense of how unforgiving this place is. It is crazy how extreme and rapid high desert fluctuations can be. It can be 120+ in the day and within a 2 hour period drop to 40 at night.

Pretty much the moment you leave a paved road in this park you are on your own in one of the more vast a deserted places in the United States. And this is one of the least hospitable environments in the country any time of year. It is rugged and old. There are places in this park where on the road you are 6 hours from the entrance and you can hike further in than that. This is extremely raw wilderness and it has the beauty to match the danger. Whatever amount if water you think you will need, double or triple it. There are no fences off the paved road. And in many places no warning signs. Just name of place. When I mountainbiked here we literally laid down at the edge of the white rim amd peered over the edge a thousand feet straight down. The switchbacks had no rails at all. No warnings about dry washes or anything. It feels like you're one of the first people ever to see these things.

And if you're into Mountain Biking there is the Slick Rock Trail which is absolutely amazing as well.

Mountain biked part of the rim to Muscleman Arch and then back to the switchbacks and on to Pitash Road years ago. One of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Easily a top 3 National Park for me. The sheer immensity of it amd the landscape is humbling. And the extreme climate. It's difficult to describe to people who haven't been. Absolutely with a trip to UT to see this gem. And if you're here drive to the other side of the freeway and do Arches as well. Literally across the street from each other.

Used to work on a student research project there back when I was in college. Testing plant growth in Mars analog soils. That whole part of UT is intense.

Southern UT is a dangerously beautiful place. Biked White Rim once many years ago. Unbelievable beauty and a feeling of being a small piece of something so much larger than we are. You can't help but just be awed to silence by Canyonlands. And then you try to describe it to someone who hasn't been and every word is inadequate. Congrats to both of you.

It's going through changes... it's really not ugly. One of my favorite downtowns.