I have so many fond memories of family vacations from when I was young. I am not sure which I like more discovering new along side my husband and kids, or sharing some of my favorite memories from my childhood with them. A trip to Moab helped me do some of both. I remember so vividly visiting newspaper rock as a child I was So excited to share that with my kids. I vaguely remember other parts of Canyonlands, but for the most part it was largely a rediscovery. You can not access all of Canyonlands National Park by one entrance, it isn't like many of the other parks that you can enter from one way and drive all over and see everything you want. It is almost like three separate parks. there are three entrances, that are not connected by any roadways, and the separate entrances are hours away from each other. I have never been to "The Maze" on the West side of the park. when I was young I visited the Needles in the south. This time around we did go to both the Needles and "the Pie in the Sky" in two separate days. I suggest leaving more time for both. Here is map of the Needles and the things that we stopped to see.
News Paper Rock
Newspaper Rock is not technically in Canyonlands it is along the road to the South entrance. it is just on the side of the road, there is a small parking lot and some bathrooms, and large rock with lots of Native American drawings, and some more recent ones too.
By this point my kids were very tired of driving in the car and were more than excited to get out and stretch their legs. (the south entrance is about two hours out of Moab - I might recommend camping at the campground just out side of the south Entrance. this is what I did when I was young - It would allow for more time in the park - but there is no shade! this is called Canyonlands Needle Outpost. Or there are campgrounds in the park, but those quickly fill up - there are no hotels or motels close to the south entrance to stay in, camping is the only option I know of. sorry tangent).
Road Side Ruin
Upon entering Canyonlands the first thing you come to is the visitor center. It is worth the stop, it is small but has a movie about Canyonlands, and one of the few bathrooms in the south side of the park. after a quick visit to the visitor center the first stop for us was Road Side ruin. This path was maybe a five minute jaunt and almost stroller proof. my kids each did the loop three times. It is a quick easy walk to some Ruins.
Slick rock/Pothole Point
Slick rock is not at all slick but it was one of my kids favorite spots. Pothole Point is very similar to Slick rock, just lots shorter and in my opinion not quite as amazing views. There are not really paths or trails you have to stay on so the kids loved being able to climb and jump and hide and explore as they wished it was the freedom they loved. for that reason sometimes this hike stressed me out. there were just stacks of rocks marking the way to go. and sometimes there were more than one stack visible so it could be confusing what way to go, and sometimes you couldn't see the next stack.
The views were amazing. In total it took about 2 and a half hours, so if you go in the summer make sure you bring plenty of water. it would have been 2 and a half hours of total bliss but it started to down pour! The down pour made it even more difficult to see the rock stacks, I got stressed that we were going to be lost and going the wrong way. (did I mention there are not a ton of people at Canyonlands, so it isn't like you are constantly seeing people and can follow people out).
We had probably 20 minutes of down pouring stressful cold rain. and then it stopped. and as stressful as the rain was it was amazing afterwards, little rivers formed and waterfalls and water was just rushing off the rock, it sounded beautiful, smelled beautiful and was downright amazing.
Cave Spring
The last place we stopped in the Needles was Cave Spring. It had a bit of everything, caves to explore, and old cowboy camp, Native American Ruins, ladders to climb and rocks to jump off of.
I would highly recommend Canyonlands National Park - The Needles to all families with young children. We went in May and I think it was the perfect time to go.
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