Where eagles soar......

Canyonlands National Park is described as a wilderness of rock...and is absolutely gorgeous. This is a rugged, remote wilderness area whose beauty is worth the effort to get there. As the park brochure says "Come to our wilderness but be ready to rough it". I think I've mentioned before, you need to be sure you have food, water and gas when you are traveling in these parts...just sayin'!  For more information, click here.

Two large canyons carved by the Green and Colorado Rivers separate this park into three distinct areas: Island in the Sky, The Maze and The Needles. Our campground is about an hour and a half from the Needles Section, so we decided to start our exploration of this area by going to the Needles Overlook. Once off the highway, the drive is about 30 miles to reach the Overlook. The views were amazing.

cool rock formation on the highway....near our turnoff to the park

its definitely remote here....

pronghorns with bandannas? This is the wild west!! 

walked right in front of us!

The views from the Overlook were stunning. This is redrock country! WOW! We walked all around the Overlook to view the vast expanse of canyonlands before us. Did I already say WOW! I am speechless.... I'll let the pictures tell the tale.

the colors were awesome

looking out over the canyonlands

like a vision

the Overlook had nicely accessible concrete sidewalks...and then some slickrock for even more views

beautiful

looking out over the needles section

the wind and water have done their work of art

a 4WD road down in the canyon...see it worming its way through?

so cool

lots of walking available around the fenced-in slickrock for more awesome views

otherwordly

snow-capped mountain in the background...just beautiful!

layers and layers

no matter where you look, its stunning

views are amazing

living on the edge!

amazing!

see the river down there?

the scenery can take your breath away

now this is a great "rest area"....in the shade!!! (though it was windy and cool when we were there)

There were several other visitors at the Overlook when we were there, and one woman told us to stick around if we wanted to see a Golden Eagle released into the canyons. Her friend worked with the wildlife rehabilitation group, and had informed her of the release information. We were so thankful she shared that with us...and yes, we did stick around. It was really windy...so we opted to eat our lunch in the car rather than at the picnic tables with the stunning views. Before long, the eagle arrived! Those of us that were still there felt honored to witness this release:) There were several birding people to witness the release, and we learned a lot from them. Once the eagle was let go...it flew low into the canyon to orient itself and learn about its surroundings. Then, it came back and landed near where it was released. The next thing you know, two peregrine falcons were dive-bombing the poor eagle....they had a nest going in a tree right near where the eagle landed....and they were trying to protect its space. Finally the eagle soared out into the canyonlands. So interesting! It was like witnessing a documentary on Nat Geo, with all the commentary coming from these knowledgeable birders standing with us! Aren't we so lucky?

The eagle has landed

getting the eagle out of the car

there it is....it has been in rehab for a broken leg for a few months

its ready to be set free

its enormous!

checking us all out

lots of paparazzi following this eagle!

carefully deciding where to let it go

say so-long!

heading down to the rim

not an easy thing to do

a little help getting to the edge

the girl in the black tee has the honor of letting it go

puff.....there it goes

set free....there it goes

magnificent

where is it going?

hey wait....what's that? A peregrine falcon?

the peregrine falcon is dive bombing the eagle!

there are two of them...buzzing the eagle!! They have a nest going in the nearby tree

see the eagle landed again (walking in the middle of the picture)

trying to decide where to go

reacquainting itself with where he is...before he takes off for good

assessing the area

the group that rescues the eagles (and others)

On the way back to the campground, we detoured a bit to Newspaper Rock...the site of a wall of petroglyphs. Fascinating! We were looking at the 'glyphs and saw what we thought was graffiti, but it was actually writing from early explorers. The designs are intriguing, and scholars don't know whether a story is being told or what. The first carvings on the rock were made over 2000 years ago! WOW! So cool! For more information, click here.

easy to access this petroglyph wall!

what does it all mean?

guy on a horse....means its after Columbus "discovered" America and brought horses over

another horse

look at "bigfoot" with 7 toes....what does that mean? Or is it NOT a foot?

is that a watch on the left there?

so interesting to try to figure some of it out

bad light...but still impressive!

the darker 'glyphs are the older ones

does that mean hunting with a bow an arrow for deer? And who are those guys with horns?

early explorers

really amazing!