Canyonlands National Park

When I visited Canyonlands National Park in one of the hottest days last summer, it was already days into my Southwest trip. Being a habitual late riser, I had adjusted to the Mountain Time very quickly. So by the time I got to Island in the Sky, the sun was too high for a good photo of Mesa Arch. Of course, compared to the arches in Arches National Park, this one is really not that remarkable, but with the Washer Woman Arch in the background, it was still quite unique.
High temperature made the air hazy. Here in the middle of the picture (oh what a bad composition!) you can find the washer woman.
Island in the Sky is one of the three districts in Canyonlands National Park. Here you can see the power of time and running water. In front of you are gigantic chasms of the earth -- deep canyons chipped away slowly, layer by layer, year after year.

The Green River.
Interesting erosion on the way to Grand View Point overlook.


Colorful life of Island in the Sky:

For the adventurous ones, a four-wheel-drive can bring you on to the unpaved roads that goes down to the rim roads.


While planning the trip, I saw a big hole in the park using Google Earth. It is the Upheaval Dome. This badly attempted panorama can hardly convey the sense of awe and strangeness of the sight. This really is an anomaly in the canyon country of ordered layers of rocks. What you see here is a circular pit of 5km across with dramatically deformed rock layers apparently of different origins.
The center of the Upheaval Dome:
No one knows for sure how Upheaval Dome formed. Currently there are two theories: impact crater theory, and salt dome theory. I personally believe the latter more.

The way to the Needles district felt very desolated. I saw less than 5 cars while driving in and out, and no one was stationed at the visitor center (not even to collect admission?). The road was really long. Just a little way passed Newspaper Rock (other than a lone souvenir vendor in front of a big wall of rock, I didn't see anything special) (Added 6/1/09: apparently I must have missed one of the largest petroglyph sites in the world!) we went down though a valley where vegetation grew unexpectedly thick which in turn supported bountiful animals. Air temperature went down very rapidly by more than 20F in about 5 minutes. I found this astonishing. As soon as we got to the bottom, the land opened up again, and the temperature soared to a balmy 100+F.
Empty road (Route 211):
Do these look like tetons? (Added 6/1/09: These are the North and South Sixshooters, quite famous among the rock climbing community.)
Needles had a different feel than Island in the Sky. One obvious thing was now you had to look up to see rock formations, such as this one. The one on the right was the Wooden Shoe. Wasn't that so Dutch?
Big Spring Canyon overlook was at the end of the paved road. Here rocks looked different again.
The columns of rocks looked like needles from afar.
For one who drives a sedan, this is as much as one can see in the Canyonlands. However, it is possibly only 10% of what it offers. This park is really for the adventurous type.