Canyonlands · Bears Ears · Indian Creek
What’s out here
The park entrance is a mile and a half away. Everything else on this page is measured from our gate, because the distances out here are bigger than they look on a map.
Driving times are rough and assume dry roads. Check conditions and permits with the ranger station before committing to anything on dirt.
Hiking in the Needles
Trailheads are all within about twenty minutes of the campground. Start early — there is very little shade, and afternoon storms arrive fast in late summer.
Pothole Point
Easy · 0.6 mi loop
A short loop over slickrock past potholes that hold rainwater and the creatures that depend on it. Good with children, and good at the end of a long day.
Cave Spring
Easy · 0.6 mi loop
An old cowboy camp and ancient rock paintings, with two ladders to climb. A lot of history for very little walking.
Big Spring Canyon Overlook
Roadside
Sweeping views straight from the car park at the end of the paved road. The best sunset in the district for the least effort.
Chesler Park
Hard · 6 mi and up
The signature hike. A meadow ringed by the banded spires the district is named for. Long, exposed and worth every step.
The Joint Trail
Hard · part of the Chesler loop
A corridor through cracks in the rock so narrow it is nearly a tunnel. Usually walked as part of the longer Chesler Park loop.
Druid Arch
Strenuous · 11 mi
A monolithic arch at the head of Elephant Canyon, reached by a long day with a ladder near the end. For serious hikers with an early start.
Confluence Overlook
Strenuous · 10 mi
Where the green Colorado meets the muddy Green, a thousand feet below. Little shade — carry more water than you think.
Off-road in the Needles
A badge-of-honour trail that will test your technical driving, and all of it needs a day-use permit from the park. Be prepared to self-recover: help is expensive and slow to arrive out here. It is remote.
Elephant Hill
One of the most technical 4WD routes in Utah, and the gateway to the district’s remote corners. High clearance, low range and recovery gear. Not a route to learn on.
Lavender Canyon
Remote, quiet, and full of rock formations, petroglyphs and seasonal wildflowers. 4WD only, and a permit is required.
Horse & Salt Creek Canyons
Deep canyon driving past arches and rock art, including Tower Ruin. Permits are limited and go early — plan this one well ahead.
Colorado Overlook
A gentler introduction that still needs high clearance. Ends above the river with the whole basin laid out.
Indian Creek
On the road in · 15–30 min
You drove through it to get here. Indian Creek is the finest crack climbing in the world — splitter Wingate sandstone that goes on for pitches without a single face hold, which is why climbers come from everywhere to be humbled by it.
Supercrack Buttress, Battle of the Bulge, Donnelly Canyon and the Optimator Wall are all a short walk from Highway 211. It is jamming, almost exclusively, and you will want far more cams of one size than feels reasonable.
Not a climber? Drive it anyway at either end of the day. The light on those walls is the reason people stop the car.
Bears Ears & the rock art
These are the publicly known, publicly signed sites. Plenty more exists and is deliberately not published — please respect that. Everything below is a real drive, so treat each as a day.
Newspaper Rock
~30 minHundreds of petroglyphs on one dark panel, layered over two thousand years. Right on the road in, so there is no excuse to miss it.
Butler Wash Ruins
~1 hr 45A short slickrock walk to an overlook of cliff dwellings tucked under an alcove across the wash.
Mule Canyon & House on Fire
~1 hr 45The most photographed ruin in the region — the rock above it looks like flame in mid-morning light. An easy walk up the wash.
Sand Island Petroglyphs
~2 hrA long panel above the San Juan River near Bluff, with Kokopelli figures among much older work.
Valley of the Gods
~2 hr 15A 17-mile dirt loop through free-standing buttes. Usually passable in a normal car when dry — never when wet.
Where to eat, and how far
Monticello
about 45 minutesThe nearest town, and where most people fill up and shop. A handful of good places to eat for its size:
- Gustavo’s — Mexican, open daily
- Ja-Roen Thai & Sushi — the surprise
- Doug’s Steak & BBQ — slow-smoked
- Prime Eats — burgers, closed Mon & Tue
- High Desert Cafe
- The Over Bite
Out of season only five or six stay open, and hours shorten. Worth a look at opening times before you drive an hour for dinner.
Moab
about 1 hour 30Too far for dinner, right for a day out or a stop on the way in. Dozens of restaurants, a brewery, coffee that took a while to reach this part of Utah, and the last full-sized supermarket before us — shop there rather than counting on our store.
- Arches National Park — a different landscape entirely, and timed entry in season. Book ahead.
- Mountain biking — Slickrock, Klondike Bluffs, the Whole Enchilada if you have the legs.
- Rafting the Colorado — half-day floats up to multi-day trips through Cataract Canyon.
- Dead Horse Point — the view everyone thinks is the Grand Canyon.
Looking after what you came to see
Petroglyphs are fragile and cannot be repaired or replaced. There are panels on this property, and more across the region.
- Look, do not touch. The oils from a hand are enough to darken a petroglyph until it cannot be seen.
- Photograph and sketch freely — but never chalk, wet or otherwise enhance a panel to make it show up. That is damage, and it is a federal offence.
- Re-pecking or repainting destroys the original. Adding your own marks destroys it for everyone who comes after.
- Leave sherds and flakes where they lie. Move one and a piece of the record is gone for good.
- Keep dogs leashed and away from sites. Digging and marking damage them just as surely.
If you see somebody damaging a site, tell us at the store and report it to BLM Law Enforcement.
Don’t Bust the Crust
That black, knobbly crust on the sand is alive. Cryptobiotic soil holds the desert together, stores water and feeds everything that grows here — and a single footprint can take decades to grow back. Walk on slickrock, in washes, or on the trail. Never across open sand between them.