Tuesday, September 30

Start in Monticello UT, Canyonlands (Needles District), Newspaper Rock, Wilson Arch, Stay in Moab UT

Weather:
  Low: Monticello: 43
  Highs: Canyonlands-Needles: 86; Moab (airport): 86; Moab: 89
Hikes/Walks: 5.8 miles
2.9 mi one-way, ~500 feet elevation: parts of Druid Arch and Chesler Park trails.

Today was the day we planned to do our big hike of the trip, hiking much of the Druid Arch trail in the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park. Of course, this ended up being one of the warmest days of our trip with highs expected to be in the mid 80s. And the ranger warned us that temperatures in the canyon may feel about 10 degrees warmer. So, we ended up hiking about 2.2 miles on the Druid Arch trail, hiking through some of the "needles" formations. With the warm weather, instead of hiking the additional 1.3 to 2 miles we were planning, we decided to take another approximately 0.75 mile trail to the edge of Chesler Park (a large meadow enclosed by some large needles formations), although this hike contained a bit more elevation gain. As it turned out, it was probably a good idea when went with the shorter hike.

On the way to our hotel in Moab, we stopped by Newspaper Rock (a rock with a large number of petroglyphs), and Wilson Arch (a large arch along side US Highway 191). Then we arrived in Moab, where we planned to stay for the next week.