Best Hiking Trails in Canyonlands National Park - Needles District

Overview

Tucked away in the southeastern corner of Canyonlands National Park, Utah, the Needles District is a backpacker’s paradise. Discover a landscape dominated by signature towering Cedar Mesa sandstone spires poking up from the desert floor and over 60 miles of trails that create the colorful canvas painted with red-and-white striped mesas, buttes, and needles.

Located along the access road coming into the Needles District, take a step back in time to explore one of Utah’s Historic Monuments, Newspaper Rock, a massive rock formation covered with pictographs and petroglyphs from various prehistoric cultures which have been attributed to peoples from the Archaic, Anasazi, Fremont, Navajo, Anglo, and Pueblo cultures some 2,000 years ago. Cozy up at Squaw Flat Campground, an ideal base camp to popular day hikes like Chesler Park, Druid Arch and Joint Trail. About 3 miles from the Elephant Canyon trailhead, find your way to overlook or loop around Chesler Park, one of only a few grassy areas in the region surrounded by hundreds of delicate sandstone spires. The 11-mile round trip hike drops you into what feels like some of the Southwest’s famous slot canyons, but without the crowds. This section of the hike is the famous “Joint Trail” and part of what makes this one of America’s best desert day hikes.

Those used to crowded National Park roads and lines will find the Needles District refreshingly quiet—the nearest town, Monticello is a 60-minute drive, and Moab is a 90-minute drive. Prepare for desert days filled with world class four-wheel driving, backpacking, biking, camping, horseback riding, scenic drives, and stargazing when you visit.

Getting Started

Pack and plan accordingly, as there is only one paved road, UT 211, that leads in and out of the Needles area. Squaw Flat Campground hosts a total of 29 sites, 26 individual and 3 group camps, some of which can be reserved in the prime seasons for exploration, spring and fall. Squaw Flat campground typically fills up every day from late March through June and again from early September to mid-October.

There’s plenty of space for lengthy hikes and multi-day backpacking trips from the Needles. The Chesler Park Loop should be on the top of your bucket list to view panoramic views of the Needles formations and for a dose of history, check out Cave Spring, an accessible loop that leads to a historic cowboy camp and prehistoric rock paintings. Set aside a day to reach the Confluence Overlook, a hike that ends at a cliff overlooking the junction of the Green and Colorado rivers, or if you’re in a pinch, check out Roadside Run for a glimpse of an ancestral Puebloan-era structure.

Many trails are marked with cairns (rock piles) and have signs at the intersections, however, some of the remote trails do not receive regular maintenance and may not be marked, requiring some route finding skills. Some routes and trails require climbing up or down ladders out of a dry wash, walking along precipitous canyon ledges, and scrambling through cracks.

When to Go

Not all deserts mean constant heat. Canyonlands is the high desert, so be prepared for potential swings in temperature of 40 degrees in a day and bring plenty of layers. Spring and Fall are the peak seasons to visit, with highs from 60 to 80 degrees fahrenheit and lows from 30 to 50. Summer can be sweltering and reach well beyond 100 degrees along with the potential of flash floods. Remember to check the forecast before you go, as rainfall in other areas can cause flash floods in the park. Winter can be a beautiful but challenging time to visit, and if you’re up for the challenge, developed campgrounds and roads are open year-round. While snowfall is rare, a rogue dusting could mean impassable trails, come prepared for a winter wonderland by day and temperatures below zero at night.

Permits

Elephant Hill, Lavender Canyon, and Peekaboo (Horse Canyon) roads all require day-use permits for four-wheel-drive, motorcycle, and bicycle travel. You can get a day-use permit online up to 24 hours before your trip, find full permit requirements here (https://www.nps.gov/cany/planyourvisit/dayusepermits.htm). All overnight trips into the backcountry require an overnight permit, and trips on the river require their own permit.

Dog Info

Dogs are allowed on leash at Squaw Flat Campground, on paved scenic drives, in parking lots, and on the Potash/Shafer Canyon road. Dogs are not allowed on leash at overlooks, on hiking trails, in the backcountry or on backcountry roads (even in your vehicle) or in the rivers.