Canyonlands National Park

We're now set up about 15 miles north of Moab Utah right outside the entrance to Canyonlands Park.

One of the first lookouts on the way to the park. The two towers are called the Monitor and Merrimack. Cute!

Canyon Lands Park is a National Park on top of a mesa. All sides of the mesa are hundreds of feet straight down. Going down the side of this cliff is a road only accessible to 4 wheel drive vehicles. Grammy had no interest in taking the Jeep down there. Wouldn't that be a blast driving that road.

See that steep cliff off to the right? That's right behind Grammy too. Doesn't she look calm.

Every stop has a view you can't believe.

This is my chance to stand beside the sheer cliff. 

The terrain for hundreds of miles is cliffs and canyons. This park gets you high enough up to see all the beauty around you. 

A natural arch. If you had an urge to walk across it, just look down beside grammy for hundreds of feet; it kind of discourages that kind of tom foolery. 

Just in case you were getting bored with all the scenery, this long dead bristlecone pine caught our eye. The roots are huge and have grown right through the rock behind me.

Grammy packed a nice lunch and all this hiking around built up quite an appetite. So we relaxed and enjoyed our victuals. Besides, right behind me is the Upheaval Dome which is quite a hike and we'll need all that food energy.

Half way up to the crater I got grammy to stop for a photo so I could catch my breath. Pretty tricky huh. 

This area from where I'm sitting to the far canyon wall collapsed in the distant past. One theory is a meteor strike and the other is a collapsing salt dome. Don't ask me; I just got here.

Right next to Canyonlands Park is a state park called Dead Horse Point which has the best view of the Colorado River from up high (It's also on a mesa). So we went there, obviously. 

And here's the Colorado just like I promised. Isn't this just spectacular country? Now there are other parks in this area that make Utah so special and we'll try to visit a few while we're in the area. Stay tuned.