We got up early again today so we could head into Canyonlands National Park. We drove to the Island In the Sky visitor center. This is the northern end of Canyonlands. The views from this park are really amazing with very high and long distance views of the huge canyons. The first stop was the iconic Mesa Arch. The hike is only about ½ mile round trip, with a well prepared trail, and moderate elevation change. The arch itself is really cool but the most amazing part is the stunning view through the arch. Again we drove all of the pave roads and stopped at each of the overlooks. Most of the key sites area easily accessible from the paved turnouts. The scale of the canyons is amazing. Unfortunately like Arches and most other National Parks Maverick is not welcome beyond the parking lots.
After completing the drive around Canyonlands we drove the additional 4 miles to the Dead Horse Point Utah State Park. This park gives a view of the same canyon as the National Park but with a very cool view of a horseshoe bend in the Colorado River. Unlike the National Park, Maverick we welcome on-leash so he got to enjoy the park as well. We did have to pay $20 for the car to enter the state park for a pass good for two days.
We made it back to town for lunch around 2pm. I was hungry for steak so we chose the Josey Wyatt grill at the Hoo Do hotel. Josey’s is the best rated steak in town. It was pretty fancy and expensive but very good. After lunch we stocked up on supplies at the grocery store.