Exploring the Natural Wonders of Canyonlands: The Needles District Adventure

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Join me, Craig the Natural Medic, as we embark on an adventure through the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, where nature's artistry is on full display. Ever wondered what makes the landscape of the Needles so captivating? Prepare to be amazed by the mesmerizing formations created by sandstone sliding under a salt layer, forming parallel cracks that have been shaped over time into the iconic needles. Our journey kicks off from the Big Spring Canyon Overlook, offering a spectacular view of the confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers—a geographical marvel first mapped by the Macomb expedition in 1859. 

Our exploration doesn't stop there. Venture with me along the challenging Confluence Overlook Trail, where the raw power of nature is on full display through breathtaking vistas. Discover the rich biodiversity of the Slickrock and Pothole Point Trails, where seemingly barren potholes come alive with snails, beetles, and shrimp—creatures that thrive in the unique desert habitat. Learn about the significance of protecting the cryptobiotic soil crust and the fascinating story behind the mushroom-shaped rocks that evoke memories of classic video games. This episode promises an immersive and educational journey that captures the essence of one of America's most extraordinary landscapes, leaving you inspired by the wonders of the natural world.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi there, this is Craig the Natural Medic.
I am in the Needles District ofCanyonlands National Park.
Canyonlands National Park isunique because it's divided by
the confluence of the GreenRiver and the Colorado River.
There are a bunch of canyons,hence the name.
It's divided into threedistricts the northeastern
district called Islands in theSky, which we'll be visiting

(00:23):
later today.
This one is called the Needles,probably the second most remote
.
Just coming through andchecking it out today, going to
try to make it to the Islands inthe Sky district later, I hope
you'll follow me throughCanyonlands National Park
Needles District.
I'm at the end of the park roadhere at the Big Spring Canyon

(00:46):
Overlook.
You can hike down here fromthis spot to the confluence of
the Colorado River and the GreenRiver.
But not doing that today.
I just want to give you a goodoverview of this area.
Lots of desert vegetation hereyou have some Mormon tea on the

(01:11):
ground, pinyon pine, lots ofjunipers and weird-looking
mushroom-shaped rocks.
Reminds me of something inMario Brothers Showing my age
here.
But we're going to backtrack tothe front of the park and go
out.
Follow me the ConfluenceOverlook Trail.

(01:33):
You can look a thousand feetdown to see the joining of two
great rivers the Green and theColorado.
The Green and the Colorado wasfirst mapped in 1859 by the US
topographical engineers of theMacomb expedition.
They only viewed it from aplace above.
We're imagining the power, butyou can actually hike there.

(01:55):
It's an 11-mile round trip.
It takes five to six hours.
Now, depending on what time ofyear you go, it could be pretty
extreme, but I definitely wantto do it sometime.
Okay, on the slick rock trail,just going to the first
viewpoint here, I thought it wasa nice viewpoint for everybody
to check out the lasal mountainswhich are right there by moab

(02:16):
are.
That way you keep going to thenorth, northeast that's going to
be towards the rivers got a lotof potholes down here on the
ground.
That's pretty neat, but Idefinitely want to share this
viewpoint, as you can see,almost 360.
For our next trick, we're goingto walk on pothole point trail,

(02:39):
which is a 0.6 round trip trail,45 minute, and it's so named
because of these potholes whichform after rainwater falls and
different animals collect inthere, like snails, beetles,
worms, shrimp, which can formfrom eggs or kind of come alive
from dormancy.

(03:00):
Let's go check it out.
Let's go check it out.
Interesting feature of thistrail is the mushroom rocks.
The harder rock on top is moreof the capstone.
The underlying rocks are alittle bit softer and erode or
weather more easily, formingthis mushroom-shaped rock.
There's another one right here.

(03:21):
Isn't that cool?
Feeling like I'm in a SuperMario game.
You can see some really largepotholes over there.
Just some plants, rocks and ice.
It's cold enough that there wasice in these pools last night.
The idea is, whenever they'redry, dry, you should not walk

(03:46):
through them, because they couldhave organisms lying dormant.
In this case, you have thiscryptobiotic soil crust, that
little crunchy looking stuff.
You don't want to walk on thatanyway.
Perfectly okay to walk on therock around them.
Lots of potholes that couldform here when it rains.

(04:07):
Watch your step, try to walkthrough the holes, but look at
all these cool rocks.
What a visit to the NeedlesDistrict of the Canyonlands
National Park.
How would it be completewithout seeing the needles
themselves?
The needles were formed.
As you see down on the bottomdiagram.
Sandstone was gradually slidingunder a layer of salt toward

(04:28):
the Colorado River, which is tomy right, as I'm standing here
filming this, to my right, asI'm standing here filming this.
That caused the sandstone tofraction, to parallel cracks,
and then they formed what wecall the needles.
Today, erosion continues.
Gonna be hard to see them, butI'll try to zoom in.
There they are.

(04:48):
Don't have time to drive downto that particular spot, but I
wanted you to see the needlesPretty cool.
Okay, it might be hard to see,but standing at the overlook for
the wooden shoe arch and it isstraight out, this way you can
see it on top it looks like awooden shoe.
Is it a wooden shoe?
Probably not.

(05:08):
I don't think a giant Dutchmanleft his shoe up there.
But we use our imaginations toform these shapes for different
things that we see in thelandscape.
This is called Wooden Shoe Arch.
The sea flooded the area, leftbehind lots of layers of salt,
sand, sediments.
The red and white layerhardened and then, over time, it

(05:32):
weathered and eroded and formedthis shoe-looking arch.
Pretty cool, huh?
Okay, probably our last stop onthis trip.
We're going to check out what'scalled the Stone Storehouse,
which is a short walk from theroad, about a .3 round trip.
It was an indigenous spot wherethey stored their local

(05:55):
foodstuffs.
Let's check it out.
If you look up in here, there'sthe stone storehouse.
It's a cylindrical storage area.
The door is on the roof.
Sometimes the doors were on thesides and they're covered with
rock slabs.
It's not really known what thiswas used for exactly.
We know it was a storehouse forsomething, but they don't know

(06:15):
what exactly was stored in there.
Was it ceremonial items?
Was it foodstuffs?
Who knows?
Whatever was in there wasremoved by looters before this
was a park, or was eaten byrodents.
Pretty much what you find inthere now is just pack rat

(06:36):
droppings.
Places like this usually werebuilt in inaccessible areas to
protect the contents of whateverwas in
there.
The narrowleaf yucca is one ofthe plants they talked about,
several plants on this trail.
The tribes use every part ofthat plant the spines on the end
of the leaf.
Here they use those as needles.

(06:56):
They made the fibers into cordand rope and wove them into
sandals and mats.
The flowers and fruits can beeaten and the roots yield
saponin, which was used assoap.
When you're in the southwest,there is a thing called
cryptobiotic soil.
Make sure you stay on thetrails that are already blazed.
This one's pretty well laid out, with a rock pathway, but just

(07:20):
off of the path you have thiscryptobiotic soil which can be
harmed and can cause deficits tothe plants in the area if you
step off that and crush that.
So don't do that.
Yeah, so the Needles Districtof Canyonlands definitely
deserves more exploration.
Next time I'm over that way,hopefully we'll be able to
explore some when the weather isbetter and I have more time.

(07:41):
I hope you enjoyed this video.
If you did give it a thumbs up,let me know that you approve
and it gets out to more peopleon Facebook.
Any questions, comments aboutwhat you might have seen in the
video, leave them below Untilnext time.
See you on the trail.
Goodbye.