Needles- Canyonlands

After the bike ride, we ventured 1 and 1/2 hours to the Needles district of Canyonlands NP. The sights were beautiful however, I was anticipating driving through a narrow road with the towering needles on both sides. We come to learn , this can only be done via a short wheel based 4 wheel drive jeep. So we viewed the needles from a distance.

We did get an opportunity to do some interesting hikes, One was called Pothole point. The texture of the rock again looks like the moon.

When these potholes fill with  water they come alive and create their own ecosystem. From www.visitutah.com- 

The name Pothole Point comes from the numerous “potholes” that have formed in the slickrock along the trail. The potholes trap water after a desert rain. The rainwater is mildly acidic and ever so slowly enlarges the pothole. An intricate, symbiotic animal community featuring shrimp, worms, snails, and perhaps even a Great Basin spadefoot toad gradually develops in some potholes. If you’re lucky enough to visit Pothole Point shortly after a rain, you can observe these tiny ecosystems…Over time the wind continuously blows dirt, sand, and small bits of organic material into the potholes. Eventually plants take root in the thin layer of soil. The first sign of life in a pothole is often the cryptobiotic soil, which provides the foundation for growth of larger plants. The end result is a “pothole garden,” a pocket of miniature, bonsai-like vegetation in a bowl of solid rock.

The  trail is marked with cairns. This is true at all the parks. To stay on the trail, you follow the cairns or small stacks of rocks-

Terri pronounces it “Karen” and when she can’t see one she yells, “Karen where are you?Where did Karen go? KAAREN! Then she goes right into her rendition of “Rainy Days and Mondays.”  Between,  Islands in the Stream, Rainy Days and Mondays and Donna Summer…. Give me some Nineties Alternative music PLEASE!

She didn’t notice her “Karen” a few yards ahead.

From Pothole Point you can see the Needles:

I love these rock formations:

Speaking of rocks, on the way to Needles we rounded a curve and this is what we saw:

It felt like the truck just cleared the big rock. I even ducked because as you see, it was on the passenger side! Thank God we were not towing our travel trailer.

Then we stopped to see another “Newspaper  Rock”  to see petroglyphs. I think every National Park has a Newspaper Rock- but this was the Sunday edition-

 

Some other interesting pics from our day at The Needles:

See the wooden shoe?