We left Moab and headed for the Needles area of Canyonlands National Park. It was really windy and cloudy when we got there, but we took a few short hikes anyway. The first hike was the Slickrock Trail which had four different viewpoint overlooks of the area: the La Sal Mountains, the Colorado River basin, two buttes (Sixshooter and Molly's Nipple--we don't name them, we just list them), and the Needles.
The second hike was Pothole Point, which walks through an area covered with "potholes" in the rocks where rainwater collects and lots of different plants and animals live, even though the environment around is so arid--pretty interesting. We then took the 2 shortest hikes, but they were 2 of the most interesting: Roadside Ruins and Cave Spring. Roadside Ruins led to an Indian ruin of a granary up under a rock ledge, where the farming tribes stored their corn, and squash seeds. Cave Spring led to a dripping spring in a small cave, which ancient Indians and, later, cowboys used as a water source. In other parts of this trail, we saw the remains of one of the real cowboy camps (used until 1975) and some Indian art painted on a rock wall in another location. Really cool trail--we had to climb a ladder in one spot to get up the rock wall!
Since the campground in Canyonlands was full, we drove out to a BLM campsite (free camping), and settled in. Hopefully, the wind will not be as strong in the morning and we will hike the big trail: Chesler Park and the Joint Trail.
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