Canyonlands National Park

Discover endless deep canyons, towering mesas, arches, cliffs, and spires stretching over 500 miles.

Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah is known for its dramatic desert landscape carved by the Colorado River. Visitors love Island in the Sky, a huge, flat-topped mesa with panoramic overlooks. Other notable areas include the towering rock pinnacles known as the Needles, the remote canyons of the Maze, and the Native American rock paintings in Horseshoe Canyon. Whitewater rapids flow through Cataract Canyon in the park.

Canyonlands National Park preserves 337,598 acres of colorful canyons, mesas, buttes, fins, arches, and spires in the heart of southeast Utah's high desert. Water and gravity have been the prime architects of this land, sculpting layers of rock into the rugged landscape you see today. Enjoy the natural beauty and history of the area in its four districts divided by the Green and Colorado rivers. While the districts share a primitive desert atmosphere, each retains its own character and offers different opportunities for exploration and adventure.

Though they appear close on a map, there are no roads that directly link the districts. Traveling between them requires two to six hours by car as there are few places to cross the rivers. Enjoy this diverse national park the next time you drive to southern Utah.