Canyonlands National Park: Mesa Arch Trail

A lot of Canyonlands National Park is backcountry, mostly accessible by backpackers on multi-day trips, or 4-wheel drive vehicles.  The Island in the Sky district is accessible to regular cars and day hikers though, and it's right near Dead Horse Point State Park, so it made sense to combine the two into one day.

After the visitor center, we stopped at the lookout for the Shafer trail, a dirt road that travels from the rim into the canyon.  Our car couldn't have safely handled it, but it was neat to look down at the switchbacks.

We then hiked the Mesa Arch trail, a fairly short trail, but with spectacular views at the arch:

Just some interesting rock formations on the way back after seeing the arch:

A view to the southwest on the trail back to the parking lot:

In Utah, often even the parking lots are breathtaking:

Next stop, Grand View Point.