After leaving Bluff, Utah, we headed north on Highway 191 towards Moab. It was a gray, cool morning in Bluff that turned into a snowy afternoon as we rose in elevation.
Our main stop this day was the Needles Overlook, which provides a panoramic view of Canyonlands National Park and the Colorado and Green Rivers. From this overlook, one is standing on the plateau rim (capped by the Kayenta Formation, a multi colored sandstone and siltstone, which overlies the red cliffs of the Wingate Sandstone) and sharply looks down more than 1,600 feet in elevation to the canyon country below. From this vantage, it was easy to see why Edward Abbey, an American author forever linked to the southwest, described Canyonlands as:
“…the most weird, wonderful, magical place on earth—there is nothing else like it anywhere.”
The view extends to distant peaks almost 60 miles away, though on this day frequent snow squalls drifted through the viewshed and obscured peaks and buttes, both near and far. As we took in the view, little did we know at the time how this awe-inspiring overlook gave us a bird’s eye view of many places we would be exploring in the next few weeks.
About 15 miles to the northwest of our overlook is the Islands in the Sky district of Canyonlands, where we would later watch the sunrise at Mesa Arch and peer down at the famous White Rim Trail, contemplating a possible future mountain bike adventure on this famous route.
About 10 miles to the southwest is the Needles district of Canyonlands, where we would camp for four nights and explore miles of trails along slick rock trails and within slot canyons.
About 10 miles to the south is the Indian Creek district of Bears Ears National Monument, where we would view the Six-Shooter Spires from all directions and study Native American petroglyphs.
And about 25 miles to the northeast rose the La Sal Mountains, which we would frequently peer up at during our upcoming four days of bicycling in Moab.
In addition to the vast panoramic view, our visit to the Needles Overlook was a weather enthusiast’s dream. Our view changed rapidly as the snow squalls drifted past. Standing at the edge of the plateau rim, I watched snow rising up with the wind. After living in Alaska and along the snow belt of the Great Lakes, I’ve seen plenty of snow falling and blowing sideways, but this was a first to see it snowing up!
We ended up staying at this overlook for nearly three hours, while other visitors came and went after five to ten minutes looking over the cliffs. Our lingering here was partly because we had good cell service and could check emails, download the newspaper, and study the weather forecast. But, mostly we were just having fun watching the current weather and scanning the rocks and terrain around us.
