Info/Tip
Canyonlands National Park has a few districts, the most popular are Island in the Sky and Needles. Island in the sky is about 30 miles from Moab going north and Needles is about 75 miles from Moab going south. There is no direct route connecting the two districts in the park.
Dead Horse point State Park is very close to Island in the sky and can be combined in same visit.
Weather: it can get very hot in the summer, please plan accordingly and bring sufficient water for any hike.
Things to do
Island in the Sky District
Grand View Point
The trail is 2 miles roundtrip, we only did about half of the hike the view was more or less the same and it was hot.
Aztec Butt
2 miles roundtrip hike, going up was tiring but the view on top is worth it.
Hike up 
view from trail 
view on top 
Hike down
Mesa Arch
A short 0.5 roundtrip hike to Mesa Arch.
Shafer Trail viewpoint/Canyon overlook
If you have a 4WD you can drive back to Moab via Shafer trail. We did not but it’s still worth it to stop at the Shafer Trail viewpoint and Shafer Canyon overlook for the view and watch cars travel on Shafer Trail
Shafer Trail 
Shafer Trail 
Shafer Canyon
Green River overlook
Needles District
Big Spring Canyon Overlook & Slickrock foot
We stopped for the viewpoint did not hike the trail
Pothole Point
0.6 miles round trip hike
Drive to Elephant Hill
The drive to Elephant Hill trail head is 3 miles on unpaved road. with view of the needles on the drive. We did not plan to do any hikes so just drove out and back.
Cave Spring
0.6 mile round trip loop to a historic cowboy camp and prehistoric rock paintings
Newspaper Rock
This is not part of Canyonlands National Park but is on the way to the Needle District.
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