Needles Overlook
End of the paved road, 22 miles in · Free · Year round
Twenty two miles west of US-191, at the end of the pavement, the mesa simply stops. Needles Overlook looks southwest onto the Needles district of Canyonlands, the district Monticello is the base for, and northwest to Junction Butte and Grandview Point. An interpretive display sits under a ramada at the rim explaining the geology and the earliest recorded ventures into the country below.
There is no entrance station, no fee and no timed entry. On most days there is very nearly nobody there. It is the single best value viewpoint in this corner of Utah and the reason is simply that it sits on Bureau of Land Management ground rather than inside a park, twenty two miles down a road nobody drives by accident.
Seeing the ground you walked from above it
The best way to use this overlook is at the end of a Needles day rather than instead of one. Having walked the Slickrock trail or looked up at the spires from the district road, standing on this rim afterwards reassembles the whole thing into one landscape. From up here the relationship between the mesa, the canyons and the spires is obvious in a way it never is from inside them.
The rim is not fenced everywhere
There is developed viewing at the ramada and there is a good deal of open rim either side of it. Treat the edge with the respect a five hundred foot drop deserves, keep children within arm's reach, and be conscious that sandstone at a rim edge is not always as solid as it looks. Wind on an exposed mesa is a genuine factor as well, and it can be considerable up here.
The details
Getting there
The Canyon Rims turnoff is signed off US-191 between the two towns. Once you are on it the route is simple: keep going west on the tarmac until the mesa runs out.
Before you go
- No water anywhere on the mesa outside the two campgrounds. Carry your own.
- The rim is unfenced away from the developed viewing area.
- Wind on an exposed mesa can be serious. Secure anything light.
- No mobile coverage. Tell somebody where you are going.
- Sunset is the best light and also the point at which you are driving out in the dark.
Anticline Overlook
Gravel spur off the Canyon Rims road · Free · Dry conditions
The second developed overlook looks the other way, north over the Colorado River toward the Kane Creek anticline, a set of rock layers arched up by salt movement thousands of feet below. The BLM says roughly 5,200 feet of salt bearing rock underlies the view. From the rim you can also see the Intrepid Potash facility with its solar evaporation ponds, and on a clear day Arches sits on the northeast skyline.
The site has picnic tables, small shade structures, interpretive signage and a pit toilet, and the BLM states plainly that there is no water and no camping at the overlook itself. Getting there means leaving the pavement for a graded gravel road, which is the reason most visitors who make it to Needles Overlook never see this one.
The published mileage does not agree with itself
The BLM's own current directions give eight miles of pavement and then nine miles of gravel to the overlook. Its older brochure and several other published descriptions put the overlook nearer 31 or 32 miles in, with the gravel turn around mile 15. Both cannot be right and it is not obvious which is. Reset the trip meter at the highway, follow the signs rather than a number, and allow more time than the shorter figure implies.
Gravel here means dry weather gravel
A graded gravel road across a mesa is straightforward in dry conditions in an ordinary car driven carefully. Wet, it turns to the sort of clay surface that puts vehicles in ditches, and there is nobody out here to pull you out. Check the weather for the mesa rather than for the town, and turn round rather than press on if the surface starts to feel greasy under you.
The details
Getting there
Take the Canyon Rims road off US-191, then the signed gravel turn toward Anticline Overlook. Published mileages disagree, so follow the signage rather than an odometer figure.
Before you go
- No water and no camping at the overlook itself. The BLM says so directly.
- Gravel road. Fine dry, poor wet, and there is no recovery service out here.
- Carry a spare and know how to fit it before you leave the pavement.
- Allow more time than the shortest published mileage suggests.
- The rim here is high and exposed. Watch children and watch the wind.
Canyonlands Overlook
Four wheel drive spur · Free · Dry conditions only
The third overlook is the one that requires a proper vehicle. The BLM describes a four wheel drive, high clearance road of about five miles leaving the Anticline gravel road, crossing steep rocky terrain and sandstone potholes, and ending at a viewpoint 1,400 feet above the canyon floor looking at the Island in the Sky district and the Colorado River.
The agency also states, in as many words, that the overlook has no fences. That combination, a technical road, a fourteen hundred foot drop and no barrier at the end of it, is worth taking at face value. This is not a viewpoint to arrive at casually, and it is a poor first outing in a borrowed vehicle.
What high clearance four wheel drive actually means here
It means articulation over rock steps, ground clearance over sandstone potholes, and low range for steep sections. A soft roader with all wheel drive and road tyres is not the same vehicle and will not enjoy this. Carry recovery gear, carry more water than the distance suggests, and do not attempt it alone, which is the BLM's own advice for travelling off the main roads in this area.
There is a fourth overlook, and it is harder still
Minor Overlook sits about six miles off the Anticline road and also needs a high clearance four wheel drive. Between the four viewpoints, Canyon Rims covers 100,273 acres of BLM ground with two paved or graded destinations and two that are genuinely backcountry. Knowing which is which before you set off is the whole planning problem out here.
The details
Getting there
Take the Canyon Rims road off US-191, then the gravel road toward Anticline Overlook, then the signed four wheel drive turn. The last five miles are the difficult part.
Before you go
- High clearance four wheel drive required. This is not an all wheel drive road.
- The overlook is unfenced, 1,400 feet above the canyon floor.
- Do not travel these roads alone. That is the BLM's own advice for the area.
- Carry recovery gear, a spare and a gallon of water per person per day.
- Leave your plan with somebody. There is no coverage anywhere out here.
Walk the Trough Springs Canyon Trail
Off the Anticline gravel road · About 2.5 miles down · Easy to moderately difficult
The one real walk in Canyon Rims starts at an abandoned drill pad reached by turning off the gravel road toward Anticline Overlook. From there the trail winds down Trough Springs Canyon for roughly two and a half miles to the Kane Springs Canyon Road, marked with stone cairns at regular intervals, and the BLM puts the round trip at about five hours.
The agency rates it easy to moderately difficult, with one specific caution: where the trail begins to descend the canyon wall the footing on loose rock can be treacherous. It also advises carrying two to three quarts of water per person, which for a five hour walk in high desert is the minimum rather than the generous figure.
A cairned route, not a maintained path
Stone cairns at regular intervals is exactly what it sounds like, and it means the navigation is yours. Keep the next cairn in sight before leaving the last one, photograph the start so you recognise it on the way back up, and be conscious that a descent route looks entirely different from below. Reversing a canyon walk in fading light is how straightforward outings become long ones.
Down first, up last, in the heat
The trail loses height on the way out and gains it on the way back, which puts the climb at the end of the day when you are tired and the rock is hottest. That is the standard canyon country trap. Start early, turn round on time rather than on distance, and treat a hot afternoon as a reason to postpone rather than a reason to hurry.
The details
Getting there
Turn off the Anticline gravel road onto the dirt spur signed for the trail, at an abandoned drill pad. The trail descends the canyon from there toward the Kane Springs Canyon Road.
Before you go
- Two to three quarts of water per person, per the BLM's own advice.
- Loose rock on the descent through the canyon wall. Take it slowly.
- Cairned route, not a maintained path. Navigation is yours.
- The climb is on the return leg, at the hottest part of the day.
- Do not walk it alone, and leave your plan with somebody in town.
Camp at Windwhistle
Six miles in on the paved road · 20 dollars a night · Dark skies
Windwhistle Campground sits six miles in from US-191 on the paved Canyon Rims road at roughly 6,000 feet, which makes it the easiest developed camping anywhere on this mesa. The BLM lists 15 individual sites plus one group site available for reservation, at 20 dollars a site a night payable at a self service fee station that takes exact cash or a cheque and nothing else.
Individual sites take up to ten people with a 14 night limit in any 30 consecutive days. A one mile nature trail leaves the campground, and the BLM's own description singles out the stargazing, which in a place this far from any town's lights is not marketing. The second campground, Hatch Point, sits about 24 to 25 miles in on the gravel road toward Anticline Overlook at the same nightly fee, first come and first served.
Bring exact cash, because there is no other way to pay
A self service fee station means an envelope, a slot and an honour system. There is no card reader, no ranger station and no mobile signal to sort it out with. Exact cash or a cheque, brought from town, is the difference between camping legally and not. This is the single most common way visitors get caught out in BLM campgrounds and it is entirely avoidable.
Dark skies without a permit, a fee or a queue
This corner of Utah has some of the least light polluted sky in the lower 48, and Windwhistle sits on an open mesa well away from any town. Certified dark sky places elsewhere in San Juan County get the attention; this campground gets the same sky for twenty dollars and no booking. Bring warm layers, because a clear night at 6,000 feet in the desert is cold in every season.
The details
Getting there
North on US-191 to the Canyon Rims turnoff, then six miles west on pavement. The campground is signed on the road to Needles Overlook.
Before you go
- Exact cash or a cheque at the self service station. There is no card facility.
- Sites take up to ten people, with a 14 night limit in any 30 consecutive days.
- Confirm current water availability with the Moab Field Office before relying on it.
- A clear night at 6,000 feet is cold in every season. Bring more bedding than you think.
- Hatch Point, the other campground, is about 24 to 25 miles in on gravel.
Two miles in
Jail Rock, and two stories nobody can settle.
About two miles in from the entrance, on the left of the paved road, sits a large dome of rock with a deep water hole in the top of it. The hole has no exit without a rope, which is the fact both of the stories about it depend on. The BLM's own literature for the area records them without choosing between them.
In one, a sheriff's posse used the hole to hold a captured outlaw. In the other, a rancher whose wife objected to his going into Moab to visit a saloon put her in the hole so she could not leave while he was gone. Neither is documented history and the BLM presents both as legend. What is certain is that the name stuck and the rock has carried it since.
It is worth stopping for on the way in, partly because it is the only named landmark on the first stretch of the road and partly because it is a good demonstration of how thin the recorded history of this mesa is. A hundred thousand acres, two campgrounds, four overlooks, and the best story attached to any of it is a legend with two incompatible versions.
| Destination | Distance in from US-191 | Surface | Vehicle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jail Rock | About 2 miles | Paved | Any car |
| Windwhistle Campground | 6 miles | Paved | Any car |
| Needles Overlook | 22 miles | Paved to the rim | Any car |
| Hatch Point Campground | About 24 to 25 miles | Gravel after the turn | Any car, dry conditions |
| Anticline Overlook | Published figures disagree; follow the signs | Gravel after the turn | Any car, dry conditions |
| Minor Overlook | About 6 miles off the Anticline road | Rough dirt | High clearance four wheel drive |
| Canyonlands Overlook | About 5 miles off the Anticline road | Rock steps and potholes | High clearance four wheel drive |
The mileage disagreement on Anticline Overlook is genuine: the BLM's current directions and its own older brochure do not match, and other published figures split between them. Follow the signage rather than an odometer number, and allow more time than the shortest figure implies.
There is no water on this mesa outside the two campgrounds. No fuel, no shop, no visitor centre, no ranger station and no mobile coverage either. The BLM's own safety advice for the area is to travel with a companion off the main roads, carry a gallon of water per person per day, carry proper repair and emergency gear, and leave your plan with somebody expecting you back. That advice was written decades ago and nothing about the mesa has changed to make it less true. Everything for the day comes out of Monticello.
