Head back to Elephant Canyon and climb out to the high, grassy meadow of Chesler Park, guarded by statuesque stone pillars called the Needles (backcountry camping is allowed near here).

Descend to the bottom of Elephant Canyon to the junction with the Druid Arch trail take a 4-mile (round trip) detour to Druid natural arch. Begin the multiday, 16-mile Elephant Hill loop hike at the Elephant Hill parking area. This slickrock landscape of spires and needles in Canyonlands National Park will have you believing you are visiting some distant planet. Elephant Hill, Needles District Canyonlands National Park Needles district on Elephant Hill in Canyonlands National Park Deposit Photos But pay attention to where you’re going they don’t call it the Maze for nothing. Take the 15-mile North Canyon Trail to the Maze Overlook and then drop down to explore the other-worldly spiderweb of canyons. The rock is most outrageous in the park’s remote Maze district, a favorite stomping ground of the solitude-seeking desert rat Edward Abbey.

Sandstone pillars rise like towering skyscrapers and riotous jumbles of boulders spill into deep slices of earth all against a neon-blue backdrop. In southern Utah’s Canyonlands National Park, it seems there is nothing else.

North Canyon Trail, Maze District Canyonlands National Park Canyonlands Maze District with Chocolate Drops NPS Kait Thomas Which you’ll need to be to squeeze through Peek-a-boo Gulch. These trails through slot canyon and amazing red rock landscapes in Canyonlands, Grand Gulch, Zion, and Grand Staircase Escalante will leave you breathless.

Southern utah slot canyon hikes