Backpacking in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, Utah
Druid Arch
On our trip to the Eiseman Hut, we got a last minute invitation to go on a backpacking trip in a few weeks to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park in Utah. I have wanted to do a backpacking trip in Canyonlands for several years now so it was an offer we couldn’t pass up.
We headed out on a Friday morning to begin the ~6 hour drive to the trailhead. Our first campsite was less than 2 miles from the trailhead so a later start wouldn’t be an issue. We stopped in Moab for lunch and met up with the other 3 people we’d be spending the next few days with. With full bellies, we headed out towards the Needles District in Canyonlands.
We parked and began our short trek in to our first campsite, SQ1. We were a little unsure of how much water there would be so we brought in 7 liters each to allow us to make it until we hit close to Elephant Canyon the next day when we had been told by rangers that we would run into water. We dropped off our heavy packs and decided to go on a hike with just a light trail running vest on through Lost Canyon. The rock formations and views were beautiful from the start. We found ourselves walking along both canyon bottoms and sometimes having to scramble our way to the top. We completed the loop and even added on a little extra mileage on the Peekaboo Trail. We decided to head back to the campsite in the late afternoon.
Since it had been an early start that morning, we had an early bedtime after our dinner of freeze dried meals. We all woke fairly early and packed up camp. Our plan that day was to ultimately hike over to our next campsite of CP2 in Chesler Park, with a side trip to Druid Arch along the way. We stashed our packs when we hit Elephant Canyon and headed up to Druid Arch in just our light trail running vests. The canyon up to Druid Arch felt like it was the inspiration for a Disney theme park ride. It was a pretty magical place. We made it up to the arch, which was much grander than I was expecting. After a short break to take in the views and have a snack, we headed back to where we had hid our backpacks. We had about 1-2 miles to get to the campsite and made it there by late afternoon. After dinner we scrambled up onto a very large rock next to the campsite and sat and watched the sun as it started to set. We thought about cowboy camping, but the rock wasn’t very flat and instead opted to head back to our tents for the night.
I had a really rough night. It seemed something wasn’t getting along with my stomach, and no amount of Tums or Pepto Bismol seemed to be able to get my stomach to calm down. I spent much of it outside the tent. The next morning our plan had been to quickly hike through some slot canyons first thing in the morning, but after a night of very little sleep, I had no energy left and Mike and I decided to just head back to the car. The hike out was to be about 6 miles.
Apparently, I was even more exhausted than I realized because 2 miles into the hike out, I lost focus and fell when I was trying to step down on a rock. It turned out I had badly rolled my ankle and it was instantly swollen. Hoping nothing was broken, I took 10 minutes to assess the situation and compose myself while Mike shuttled my backpacking pack down the next 1/2 mile of the canyon so I wouldn’t have to have the extra weight for the rest of the downhill in front of us. My ankle was very appreciative he did this.
We had 4 miles to go and I had no choice but to make it out somehow so I limped along as quickly as I could to make the trip take as little time as possible. We made it back to the car without further incident (thank goodness!) and headed to Moab to grab some burgers.
While the trip ended in frustration, it was one of the prettiest places I’ve gone backpacking. The “Needles” are some of the coolest rock formations I’ve seen and the views were breathtaking the whole time. I’m so glad we got the last minute invite. The first two days were simply awesome and made me want to already start planning another trip for next year.
Update: In case you were worried, I did not break my ankle. It was a bad sprain that thankfully fully healed up in 4-6 weeks.
