Best Walking Trails in Canyonlands National Park

This is a lovely hike. My four star review is due to the monotonous terrain prior to getting to the arch. It’s a ton of sand, and it’s likely you’ll be emptying out your shoes quite a bit. It’s pretty flat, but long. If you’re looking for a more strenuous hike with changing views, you may want to look for another trail.
The arch is definitely worth it at the end.

Wow - it does say some scrambling on the description. Sadly I don’t do well with heights and it was crazy windy today. We did the majority of the high, I just couldn’t do the last bit. Views were great.

It was great, very heavily trafficked. Loved the view thru the arch!! Easy to walk!!

Nice canyonlands. Lovely terrain. Great views.

Awesome hike with breathtaking canyon views! We've hiked in Zion, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, and Arches, and this hike tops them all. The final scramble up loose rocks is challenging but worth it. We relaxed in the alcove and took in the views.

A short little hike that takes you over a ridge to see the arch. The elevation was not too hard for us, but a bit more than expected for "Easy" trail. Once you get there, really easy to see the overlook and arch.

One of the best ways to see the overlooks at Canyonlands. The hike was not hard, but sometimes the carins are hard to see and follow. We did this one time at sunset and another time with kids and it was wonderful.

Good short hike that goes up a bit more than expected, but hey - you are going up over a crater, so it takes some time. Took our kids and we really liked it.

I loved Canyonlands and highly recommended this hike. I would say it's pretty easy but still bring water and the proper hiking shoes. Enjoy!

Holy Ghost panel alone is worth the hike

SO worth doing while you're in the Island in the Sky District. Sure, it can be busy, but that's because it's an easy, spectacular trail! It is at the south end of the mesa, so it's a different perspective than all of the other trails which give you views to the east or west.

I thought this was spectacular! The breeze at the top was nice and made it really enjoyable to sit and stare for awhile.

I would rate as difficult as you must climb out the canyon. Absolutely gorgeous hike , didn't see anyone at all on the Saturday over Memorial Day weekend. A surprising amount of life! Amazing views.

Easy trail with beautiful views.

Glad to have been wearing gripping shoes -- lots of scrambles up rocks. Beautiful views from the top and the graneries were cool to see.

Great trail. Canyonlands calls it a 5.8 mile. Is a steep climb out on slick rock about 1/2 way through. Took about 4 hours. Stopped, taking a lot of photos and for a snack break or two.

This trail is great. The crowd thins out once you get past the first overlook. It is Definitely worth it to continue to the second overlook. The path is well-marked with cairns. The Canyonlands newspaper said that you're not supposed to make any new cairns, just follow the existing ones. Bring lots of water, obviously.

Beautiful views of the canyon!

By far the best hike I’ve done in Canyonlands National Park! Park at Alcove parking lot and walk back about 200 meters to the logs. As you park at Alcove and walk back up the road, the logs will be on the right-hand side of the road. Be sure to notice that the trail path can be more easily identified at THE END part of the logs AS you’re walking up the road from the Alcove parking lot. Follow the cairns from there to the Kiva. Please respect the preserved site on the inner part of the Kiva. The views will totally make the hike worth it.

Agree with prior reviews. Definitely happy I was wearing grippy hiking boots. Less crowded than other areas of the park. Lots of lizard tracks in the sand and good wildlife viewing of smaller critters. Surprised a small snake, lots of birds and lizards.

Crowded, but not overwhelming for a long weekend. Fabulous views and photo opportunities. Family friendly if you keep your more adventurous kids close by. No safety rails ;-)

If it weren't for this App, I'd never had known this trail existed!! We hiked it on 4-3-18. It was so hard to find off the road, but we parked in the Alcove Springs trailhead and luckily found some people who were just returning from this hike and told us where to start. And cell service is very spotty, don't plan to have it at all. You will need to cross the road and head south and you will see the well worn path...carins mark the way from there. Another thing, once you get to the cliff side and it seems the trail dead ends, look behind you and up. We saw people way off trail and no where near the Kiva as they didn't notice the 180 and kept going straight. It's quite the view and well worth the effort to try and find it!!

This is truly a must do trail if you are in the area. We went on 4-4-18 and it was an overcast day, so luckily water wasn't an issue for us. We hiked it in six hours (stopped for lunch and to play on some rocks). We took our boys, 14 and 12, and they had no problem, other than the occasional whining, lol. Easily a day trip from Moab. I had read a review to hike this in a counter clock-wise direction and I'm really glad we did that. The first part seemed mostly downhill (once on the loop) and I couldn't imagine having to do that all up-hill. Plus, it really saves the best for last on the loop. I read an REI blogger compare this hike to "Alice in Wonderland" meets Dr. Seuss. It really does have that whimsical feeling with the rock formations. It's amazing!!!

Solid moderate hike. We started at about 10 a.m. on Memorial Day weekend and only saw 1 other group of hikers on the trail so it seemed to be a low traffic hike. There was 1 steep section around the midpoint of the hike that had us huffing and puffing a bit but overall I'd consider this a moderate hike.

Hikes just don’t get any better than this! The Needles District completely blew us away! (and we’ve been to Bryce, Zion, Arches and Canyonlands Island in the Sky District). Well worth the additional drive time to get there, and NO CROWDS! Words can’t describe the beauty and diversity of this hike! We took a ranger’s advice and did the loop clockwise, although most reviews recommend counter-clockwise. Wish we had listened to the reviews on this one. My husband struggled going down a ladder in one of the slot canyons (going up would have been easier). I also think the back 1/3 of the loop would have been easier counter—clockwise. We also regretted not bringing more water. Trust me, take what you think you need and double it! Having to ration our supply made the last two hours pretty brutal. It took us 7 hours including about 45 minutes for photo breaks and lunch. We also should have been on the trail by 7 a.m. instead of 9, which had us still hiking with very tired muscles during the hottest time of day (83 degrees),. If you don’t consider yourself to be in above average physical shape, don’t attempt the full loop. Just go to the viewpoint (that still 6 miles and quite a workout). This is also a very technical hike, so be sure you take poles and good hiking boots.

Rushed here from Teton (yes a ridiculous long way, but only short vacation) to see the sunset and the views were stunning. The path is really clear and well laid out, with stunning views on both sides. Well worth it and a really easy trail.

Awesome hike. Great scenery the entire way. Moderately traveled. Great variety around each turn. One of the best hikes I’ve done.

M

Nice, short and easy hike. Some great views but viewpoint 2 seemed inferior to 1. More up and down than we expected.