Canyonlands National Park and Dead Horse State Park near Moab, UT

                                                The view from Dead Horse

                                                The famous mesa arch in Canyonlands

 Canyonlands N.P. is over 500 square miles, so it is divided into three sections.  We only went to "Island in the Sky".  This is the section closest to Moab.  (It is a 40 minute drive from Moab).  The park offer amazing panorama views of hundreds of miles in all directions.  The many overlooks offer vistas of expansive and colorful canyons with a range of buttes, domes, river valleys and mesas.  The dominant color is red.  There are also great views of mountains, which were snow capped during our visit in November.  There are also some arches.  Most of the vistas are accessible by car or by a very short hike.

There are also all sorts of hikes in the park.  We spent most of the day driving and hiking and felt like we saw most of this section of the park.

Dead Horse State Park is between Moab and the entrance to Canyonlands.  This park is best known of its panorama view of the Colorado River.  It is an easy drive to the ranger station and overlook.

I enjoyed these two parks as much as the Grand Canyon.  The openness of the country, the range of colors and the weird geologic formation was very impressive.  Photographs really don't do it justice!

                                                        Viewpoint in Dead Horse