How to Spend Two Days in Canyonlands National Park with Kids

About the Park

If you want rugged terrain and rocky adventuring, Canyonlands is for you. I knew very little about this park before our visit!

There’s no water in the park (except at the visitor center) and very few facilities, so bring salty snacks and more water than you think you need. A lot of the park is void of roads suitable for normal cars. There’s a lot of difficult and long trails as well as backcountry camping. BUT, there are plenty of shorter trails and viewpoints to make this well worth a visit. We visited in June as part of our Fourth Grade Pass tour.

*I changed into sneakers after the photo!*

History

Like other parts of the Colorado Plateau, indigenous people made good use of the canyon walls and rock alcoves. It’s quite desolate in places, but Native Americans used yucca, prickly pear, juniper, and other desert plants for food, medicine, and materials.

In the 1950s, a few Americans began documenting the area and in particular, advocating for protection of what is known as the Needles District (the rock formations look like prickly pillars). By 1964, Canyonlands National Park was established.

*My fourth grader in Canyonlands National Park*

Day 1: Needles

Roadside Ruin

After visiting the Needles visitor center (where the rangers were extra helpful!),we stopped at Roadside Ruin. It’s a very short interpretive trail that tells you about the plants and also points out an ancient granary used for crop storage.

This is a great place to start because my kiddo was introduced to cairns (rock piles) that serve as trail markers and we had her practice following them.

Cave Spring

This was our favorite trail! It took us about 45 minutes. You see an old cowboy camp, some petroglyphs, a small cave spring, and incredible views. You even have occasional shade thanks to the rock alcoves. My 9yo liked the ladder, a bit of scrambling, and the challenge of staying on the unusual trail.

Elephant Hill

We headed back to the visitor center (which is always less than 15 minutes from any of the trailheads we took) to eat lunch at a shady table and refill water. After that, we drove down Elephant Hill to see the brilliant red clay and majestic rock formations. It’s about an 8 miles round trip.

Pothole Point

Pothole Point is another short trail that’s fun because the rock face has indentations where plants and animals live. When rain falls, it collects here to make small habitats. Our junior ranger learned about escapers and tolerators from the trail brochure and pointed out examples on our hike.

Slickrock

The sign says 1.5 hours for this but it took us 2. This is the best view of the Needles without actually hiking a very strenuous trail out to them.

It’s hard to describe, but you feel like you’re on a different planet. After ascending to the top of the mesa, follow signs to 4 different viewpoints. You’ll see four very different canyon and vegetation landscapes at each. It was a thrill!

Day 2: Islands in the Sky

We had limited time here, so we followed the NPS suggested 2-hour itinerary: “Visit Grand View Point… and hike the 0.5-mile-loop nature trail to Mesa Arch.”

Mesa Arch creates a gorgeous window into the canyon below. It’s a 27-foot-long arch that isn’t super tall and you can walk right up to it. My kiddo climbed the short rock formations around there.

The Grand View Point rivals the Grand Canyon in panoramic views of a very dramatic canyon. You can see the Maze and Needles far off in the distance as well as catch a glimpse of the Green River. Bring binoculars!

An Otherworldy Park

This might be the most surprising park we have visited!

If you want rugged terrain and rocky adventuring, Canyonlands is for you. I knew very little about this park before our visit! There’s no water in the park (except at the visitor center) and very few facilities, so bring salty snacks and more water