It’s Monday, the 4th day of my trip. The drive from Mesa Verde to Moab is supposed to be less than 3 hours. From Mesa Verde, I drove straight west towards the southeast corner of Utah. In Cortez I picked up highway G, passed just south of Canyons of the Ancients National Monument and into Utah. I’m not sure what country roads I was on but ended up on highway 162 in Aneth, Utah. The drive from Cortez to Aneth passed through perhaps the most desolate, inhospitable land I’ve seen. From Aneth to Montezuma, highway 162 parallels the San Juan river. At times it seemed a little bit like an oasis. In Montezuma, I turned north on highway 262. After a bit, 262 goes west and picks up highway 191 which goes north towards Canyonlands National Park. North of Monticello, I turned west on highway 211, which heads towards the southeast portion of Canyonlands National Park. This is called The Needles District. On the way to the entrance to the Needles District, you will pass by Newspaper State Historical Monument.
Needles District
There is a campground in the Needles District. The campground doesn’t have one tree. There wasn’t a soul camping at this campground. The national park site kinda warns you that this is an inhospitable place to camp. After checking out the campground, I headed back east on 211, picked up 191 again, and finished my drive to Moab. The northern section of Canyonlands is a little west of Moab, and Arches is just to the northeast of Moab. The temperature was 96, and by the time I arrived at the northeast entrance to Canyonlands, the wind must have been 30 mph. At times, it was a hot sandstorm.
Canyonlands, Green River
Couldn’t stay at the observation point long as the sandstorm stung my face. I headed back to Moab planning on visiting Arches National Park. There were signs at the entrance to Arches warning of roadwork and delays. That and the wind and sand helped me decide to see Arches on a future trip.