Two Districts, One Amazing Weekend

After wrapping up our time at Mesa Verde, we made the short drive over to Moab, Utah, where we settled in at Moab Rim RV Campark for a long weekend of exploring Canyonlands National Park. We arrived on Thursday afternoon with plenty of time to get camp set up, relax, and prepare for two days of adventure.

Moab quickly become one of my favorite towns on this trip, and Canyonlands only reinforced that feeling.

Moab had such a fun town vibe, with the downtown full of life, cute shops and the red rock landscape feeling vibrant.

Island in the Sky: Big Views and Bigger Adventures

Friday morning started early. We wanted to beat the heat, and in southern Utah that usually means getting on the trail before most people are finishing breakfast.

Although with kids this isn’t as easy as it sounds. We left the RV around 7:30 am and we had about an hour drive to the park. When we left the RV at 7:30am on Friday morning we could feel the heat In the sun already and knew it was going to be one of the hottest days we have hiked in so far. The temperature gauge on the car read 75 degrees that morning.

The Island in the Sky district sits high above the surrounding landscape, offering some of the most incredible overlooks we've seen on the trip so far. Everywhere you look, the land drops away into a maze of canyons carved by the Colorado and Green Rivers over millions of years.

Mesa Arch

Our first stop was Mesa Arch.

This short hike leads to one of the most famous viewpoints in Utah. The trail itself is easy and family-friendly, winding through slickrock and low desert vegetation before suddenly opening up to the arch perched right on the edge of a cliff. I had been looking forward to this hike for months. The hike itself was not anything worth noting but the view was!

Standing beneath the arch and looking through it feels almost unreal. Through the opening, you can see layers upon layers of canyons stretching toward the horizon. The kids loved carefully peeking through the arch and exploring the surrounding rock formations while we soaked in the view.

This moment was one of the moments I had been long waiting for on this trip. The planning, the waiting, and now finally here. All the videos, pictures, etc. I was finally here at Mesa Arch! It was unbelievable. We spent about 30 minutes here taking it all in, wondering around and letting the kids explore.

Grand View Point Overlook and Trail

Next up was Grand View Point.

The overlook lives up to its name. From the parking lot alone, you can see an enormous panorama of canyons, mesas, and buttes extending for miles in every direction.

We continued onto the Grand View Point Trail, which follows the canyon rim toward the southern end of the mesa. The hike is relatively easy, but the scenery is nonstop. Every few hundred yards seemed to reveal another overlook that was somehow better than the last.

The kids spent much of the hike scrambling over rocks, finding little ledges to explore, and imagining themselves as canyon explorers. It was one of those trails where the journey was just as enjoyable as the destination.

Visitor Center

Before continuing deeper into the park, we stopped at the Visitor Center.

Our first priority by this time was MORE WATER!!!! It was reaching about noon at this point, we had gone through our water, it was hot out and we needed more water. Once we refilled out water and felt a bit more hydrated then the next priority. was of course, was souvenirs and Junior Ranger books. The kids have become serious collectors of Junior Ranger badges throughout this trip, and Canyonlands was no exception.

The visitor center also provided some helpful exhibits explaining how the canyon landscape was formed and what makes Canyonlands so unique compared to Utah's other national parks.

Whale Rock

One of the most fun stops of the day was Whale Rock.

The hike is short, but the destination is a massive sandstone dome that really does resemble the back of a giant whale rising from the desert.

The kids absolutely loved this stop. Instead of simply walking to a viewpoint, they were able to climb directly onto the formation and explore its smooth slickrock surface. They raced to the top, carefully choosing routes up the rock and stopping frequently to admire the views.

For them, it felt more like a giant playground than a hike.

Upheaval Dome

Our final hiking stop was Upheaval Dome.

Unlike the rest of Canyonlands, this area has a mysterious origin. Scientists still debate exactly how it formed, though the leading theory suggests it was created by a massive meteor impact millions of years ago.

The trail leads to overlooks that provide a great look into the unusual circular formation. The layered rock appears twisted and disrupted compared to the surrounding landscape.

The kids enjoyed trying to imagine what a meteor impact large enough to create the feature would have looked like.

If you ask Lincoln what happened here, he will tell you, “ God did it.” It’s amazing what their cute little minds think.

The kids did amazing in the heat. With snacks, water and a little encouragement they can conquer anything! We hiked in total about 4 miles before 1:30pm. They did fantastic!

Schafer Trail to Potash Road

After lunch, we saved one of the biggest adventures for last.

We drove the famous Schafer Trail down to Potash Road and followed it all the way back to Moab.

If you have time, look up a video on YouTube of this! It’s pretty cool! Pictures don’t do a justice!

This route is roughly 30 miles long and may have been our favorite experience in Canyonlands.

The drive begins near the top of Island in the Sky and quickly descends through a series of dramatic switchbacks carved directly into the canyon wall. Looking down from above, the road appears almost impossible. Looking back up after descending, it seems even more impressive.

The switchbacks cling to steep cliffs while providing incredible views of the canyons below. Every turn revealed another photo opportunity.

Once at the bottom, the road follows the Colorado River through a landscape that feels completely different from the top of the mesa. Towering canyon walls surround the route, and the scale of everything becomes much easier to appreciate when you're down inside it.

The road eventually connects with Potash Road, which winds along the river back toward Moab. Along the way, we passed colorful cliffs, interesting rock formations, and plenty of scenery that reminded us why Utah is such a special place.

It was the perfect way to end our day in the Island in the Sky district.

This again, was one of those moments, that we got to take it all in. All the planning, all the prep, everything had been completed. I have seen so many videos about Schafer trail and wanting to do this for so long and we finally were able to do this as a family! It was an incredible day.

Macie asleep in the car after a long day of hiking

Needles District: A Completely Different Canyonlands

Saturday morning brought another early start.

The Needles District sits about an hour and a half south of Moab, and we wanted to get there before temperatures climbed too high. We knew that Saturday was going to be even hotter than Friday.

When we left camp at 7:30 AM, it was already 85 degrees and windy. Jessie immediately described it as a "convection oven effect." The hot wind felt like someone was blowing air from a giant oven across the desert.

After spending the previous day in Island in the Sky, we were surprised by how different the Needles District looked.

Instead of massive canyon overlooks, the landscape here is filled with colorful sandstone spires, fins, towers, and rock formations. The red, orange, and white striped rocks create a much more intricate and textured landscape. Everywhere you look, groups of towering rock formations rise from the desert floor like giant stone sculptures.

It felt like an entirely different national park.

Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument

Before entering the park, we stopped at Newspaper Rock.

This incredible panel contains hundreds of petroglyphs carved into the rock by Indigenous peoples over many centuries.

Animals, human figures, handprints, and mysterious symbols cover the rock face. Standing there and looking at carvings that are hundreds—sometimes thousands—of years old was fascinating.

The kids enjoyed spotting different animals and trying to identify shapes hidden among the carvings.

Needles Visitor Center

Our next stop was the Needles Visitor Center.

This was the moment the kids had been waiting for.

After completing their Junior Ranger activities the night before, they proudly turned in their booklets and received their Canyonlands Junior Ranger badges. Collecting these badges has become one of the highlights of our national park adventures, and this one was no exception.

Cave Spring Trail

Cave Spring Trail ended up being a very unique hike.

The trail combines history and adventure. Along the route, visitors can see remnants of early cowboy camps, including old ladders and signs of ranching activity from decades ago.

Once again their were ladders for the kids to climb, and it became a highlight of the trail. Climbing up and down them added a little extra excitement to the hike and made the trail feel more like an adventure course than a typical walk.

The kids also loved the spring within the cave, and found tadpoles within them. We also spotted a kangaroo mouse, lots of lizards, and spiders. Needless to say this trail had lots of adventure wrapped up into it.

Wooden Shoe Overlook

Next was Wooden Shoe Overlook.

From this viewpoint, a distinctive rock formation resembling the sole of a giant wooden shoe sits among the surrounding canyons.

The overlook provides a fantastic perspective of the Needles landscape and helps showcase just how different this district is from Island in the Sky.

Big Spring Canyon Overlook

Big Spring Canyon Overlook offered another incredible view.

From the overlook, the canyon stretches away beneath towering sandstone formations. The combination of deep canyons and colorful rock spires creates a dramatic landscape that feels uniquely Canyonlands.

Despite the heat, it was hard not to stop and stare for a while.

Pothole Point Trail

Our final stop was Pothole Point Trail.

This may have been the kids' favorite hike of the day.

The trail crosses large expanses of slickrock dotted with potholes that collect water during wetter seasons. But what really stood out were the strange rock formations scattered throughout the area.

The mushroom-shaped rocks looked completely different from anything we had seen elsewhere in Utah.

At several points, it felt like we had landed on another planet. The kids climbed, explored, and wandered from formation to formation while creating stories about astronauts and alien worlds.

It was the perfect way to wrap up our time in the Needles District.

An Evening in Moab

After our day in Canyonlands, we headed back to the motorhome for a much-needed break from the heat.

We relaxed, made dinner, and spent some time playing card games together before heading into downtown Moab for the evening.

Downtown Moab has such a fun atmosphere. The streets are filled with outdoor enthusiasts, families, jeep tours, mountain bikers, and travelers from all over the world. There are countless little shops to browse, and it feels like a town built entirely around adventure.

One highlight was stopping at Sweet Serendipity for ice cream.

It was a cute little shop with plenty of options, including gluten-free ice cream cones, which was a big win for me! After a couple long days in the desert heat, the ice cream tasted even better than usual.

After ice cream we found a cute little bookstore to wonder into. The kids all found a book to buy. The bookstore was adorable and had its own cozy, small-town vibe. There is something special about finding a place like that!