Images of Canyonlands National Park in northeastern Utah, April 2016.

Carved by two great rivers, the Green and Colorado, Canyonlands National Park is a stunning region of canyons and mesas. There are three distinct regions separated by the confluence of the two rivers; The Island in the Sky to the north, The Needles to the east and The Maze to the west.

The Island in the Sky is the most accessible and as the name implies allows for sweeping views of canyons and mesas in all three of the areas. The Needles area is underscored by the large red and white banded sandstone rock spires that were created by fracturing and water erosion; and The Maze, only accessible via 4-wheel drive, consists of canyons of oddly shaped sandstone.

I was in this area on a road trip in 2008 and spent less than a day exploring Canyonlands primarily because I was so enamored with Arches National Park which is only 30 miles or so to the east. To overlook this park was a big mistake exemplified by my reaction at the time to seeing the sign pointing the way to Mesa Arch. I clearly recall my thought was that I had just spent the previous two days seeing some of the most incredible arches on the planet so there’s no way a single arch in Canyonlands could top those and I drove on by; Arches is called Arches for a reason and Canyonlands is called Canyonlands…well, my reasoning was flawed, terribly flawed, and upon seeing pictures of Mesa Arch sometime after that trip I realized that the attraction wasn’t necessarily the arch itself but the view through the arch. As you’ll see from the images in the Island in the Sky gallery that view is spectacular. To compound my error I also underestimated the entire park, this time I was determined to make up for that mistake.

Now I arrived in Moab with one problem that needed immediate attention, the day before I had broken a tooth, a crown to be specific; and those of you who know me well will probably not be surprised that I broke it on a piece of chocolate. A second problem occurred as I pulled into town; the RV engine battery was cooked! So my first full day in Moab was interesting to say the least starting out with an 8:00 a.m. dental appointment to have a look at things, then off to Canyonlands for four hours to look around, back to the dentist for a new porcelain crown (this was made as I waited using a special camera, a Computer Aided Design (CAD) program and a 3D printer to carve out my new crown…pretty cool, and fast!) and then waiting until 10 p.m. for someone to come by to replace my battery. A long eventful day to be sure!

Once the dust settled I spent the next four days exploring Canyonlands to include almost 15 miles of hiking and staking out some of the overlooks to get the light I wanted for my photographs. No way was I going to make the same mistake here twice!