Once you find yourself at the right elevation on the Colorado Plateau, every direction is an outdoor playground.   While hiking in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, I spent a few nights hiking and camping.   The National Park Campground was always full so I found camping spots outside the park.   The Lockhart Basin Road is only a few miles to the east.   The first few miles (bearing north) are an easy drive along a dusty side road.  We camped next to a sandstone hill overnight, then explored the adjacent features the next morning.

We just struck off and climbed the hills, working our way along the slickock, up and down, choosing routes as they presented themselves.

There are a few square miles of terrain to explore between the Canyonlands Overlook on the mesa to the north and the park on the south.   It would take days to explore them all.

This kind of terrain would be in a State (or provincial) Park in most of Canada or the US, but in Utah, it is just another area managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

Right next to Canyonlands, the area gets little attention, just more sandstone spires, fins, buttes, canyons, and high desert terrain.

All of the area surrounding Canyonlands National Park invites us to hike, bike, photograph, and explore this marvelous terrain.

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