Canyonlands: Island in the Sky

So, we checked the weather and it looks okay for tomorrow so we stuck with the original plan and went to Canyonlands today. Today we went to the northern part of the park called "island in the sky" because there are a series of islands/large mesas and large stairstep drop-offs down to the river. We did a lot of hiking today. First we did a 1.8 mile hike to Upheaval Dome. It looks like a crater and is filled with salt mounds. They're not sure exactly how it was formed...salt pushing up from below, a meteorite hit, a very old volcano. It was a somewhat challenging hike but nice.

After that we went to the Grand View overlook and then enjoyed a 2 mile hike along the rim. The view didn't change much but it was still pretty. We followed that up with a .5 mile hike to Mesa Arch, which is one of 60 arches in the park. The ranger said you could also see another arch in the distance through the mesa arch.

That took up most of our day but we still wanted to go to Dead Horse State Park, so we did. :) We didn't stay too long but got to see an awesome view of the Colorado River as it winds back on itself around a point. This is one of the places they filmed the movie 'Thelma and Louise.'