The Needles

Departing Moab to the south we were undecided whether to visit The Needles in Canyonlands National Park. The guidebook said it was less busy than other parks in the area but this was largely because you had to get out of the car and do some walking to see anything good. We had a lot of miles to cover before sunset so it didn't seem like we would have time.

Fortunately, we spotted a sign for Needles Outlook which promised a vista of the entire area without having to enter the park and allowing us to have a Clark Grisward style view of the canyon. The road to the outlook was quite abandoned and at times we could see it go straight as an arrow to the horizon both behind us and in front with not a car in sight. This left no choice but to see if we got achieve time travel by getting the car up to 88 mph. In fact we topped out at 100 mph before Jessica made me slow down. Sadly our Mr. Fusion was broken so we're still stuck here in 2013.

(If any members of the Utah Highway Patrol are reading this, let me assure you that I often exagerrate details for comedic effect. In fact, we never exceeded the speed limit, were both wearing our seatbelts, as well as DOT approved helmets.)

The outlook did not disappoint, teetering on a cliff hundreds of feet above the canyon below.

For Jessica's coworkers reading this blog, she spotted a rig on the way back to the highway and had to take a picture. Enjoy:

(July 3, 2013)