Utah – a State of Contrasts - Part 2

(sara & chrisch) Canyon Lands: Island in the Sky and Needles District
Early next morning we left Devils camp ground and drove an hour to Island in the Sky, the most developed part of Canyon Lands National Park. It is located above the confluence of the Colorado and Green river, only accessible through a narrow land bridge. After we secured a nice camp site at the only 15 place first come first serve Willow Flat campground we drove back to the Dead Horse State Park, from where we could overlook a different part of Canyonlands and the Colorado.

Later in the afternoon we met David and Christie van Dyke at the campground. They flew from Michigan to Utah to spend some days with us. Already on our first evening we went on a strenuous hike half way down to the canyon and of course all up again. It was worth it to see the vertical wall.
The probably longest and most spectacular hike we did was the Syncline Loop. In some areas we couldn’t believe that a path should really be going through the rough landscape. We had to climb a bit around the rocks until we finally reached the bottom of the canyon. Then we had to walk the 1500 feet up again. Thanks to a good wind the temperature was bearable. However, when we reached the camp site again, van Dyke’s tent was gone: We found it about a fifty meters away hanging in a bush. The wind persisted and disturbed us while we were cooking and eating. Everything we didn’t hold or fixate with rocks was blown away.

After the sweaty hike wind and sand we really wanted to enjoy a hot shower and decided to stay the next night in a lodge. On the way, we shortly visited the Needles District, the second of three parts of Canyonlands. Early in the evening we arrived at nice and big two bedroom lodge south of Monticello. After some cleaning we prepared and enjoyed a feast meal (American and Swiss barbecue).

Capitol Reef
Our next destination was Capitol Reef National Park, four hours south west of Monticello. The highway was very scenic and led through Glenn Canyon National Park. The Natural Bridges monument was as well located on the way and so we visited the three large bridges.

Due our small detour we arrived late in the afternoon and the camping ground inside the national park was full. So we had to look for another place to stay and found finally a beautiful isolated camp site. Here we enjoyed our camp fires eat Smores and watched the night sky.

On the second day in the park we did our final hike together up to the Cassidy Arch, where we could stay on top and then continued through the narrow Grand Wash (an impressive canyon).
On Saturday morning we had to say good bye. Van Dykes had to head back to Salt Lake City to start work again on Monday. We had a great time together and drove sad about the lack of their company to Bryce.