USA Guide
The Southwest
Canyonlands National Park
At 527 square miles the largest and most magnificent of Utah's national parks, Canyonlands National Park is as hard to define as it is to map. Its closest equivalent, the Grand Canyon, is by comparison simply an almighty crack in an otherwise relatively flat plain; the Canyonlands area is a bewildering tangle of canyons, plateaus, fissures, and faults, scattered with buttes and monoliths, pierced by arches and caverns, and penetrated only by a paltry handful of dead-end roads.
Canyonlands focuses on the Y-shaped confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers, buried deep in the desert forty miles southwest of Moab. The only spot from which you can see the rivers meet, however, is a five-mile hike from the nearest road. With no road down to the rivers, let alone across them, the park therefore splits into three major sections. The Needles, east of the Colorado, is a red-rock wonderland of sandstone pinnacles and hidden meadows that's a favourite with hardy hikers and four-wheel-drive enthusiasts, while the Maze, west of both the Colorado and the Green, is a virtually inaccessible labyrinth of tortuous, waterless canyons. In the wedge of the "Y" between the two, the high, dry mesa of the Island In The Sky commands astonishing views, with several overlooks that can easily be toured by car. Getting from any one of these sections to the others involves a drive of at least a hundred miles.
Canyonlands does not lend itself to a short visit. With no lodging, and little camping, inside the park, it takes a full day to have even a cursory look at a single segment. Considering that summer temperatures regularly exceed 100°F and most trails have no water and little shade, the Island In The Sky is the most immediately rewarding option. On the other hand, if you fancy a long day-hike you'd do better to set off into the Needles.
Arrival
Canyonlands National Park charges an entry fee of $10 per vehicle, $5 for cyclists or hikers, valid for seven days in all sections of the park. Backpacking permits, covering a maximum party of seven persons in the Needles and Island In The Sky districts, or five persons in the Maze, cost $15. Permits for four-wheel-drive or mountain-biking expeditions that involve backcountry camping, issued for groups of up to three vehicles with a total of fifteen people in the Island In The Sky, ten in the Needles, or nine in the Maze, are $30. Reservations are essential for the most popular areas, especially in spring and fall. Permits must be picked up in person – with every member of the group present – from the appropriate park visitor center. For full details, see 
www.nps.gov/cany .