A Seven-Day Utah Park Adventure Begins With Cliffs, Crowds, And A Crater Debate

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We kick off a seven-day Utah parks road trip with Canyonlands’ Island in the Sky, moving from the quick drama of Mesa Arch to the long horizons of Grand View and the unsolved geology of Upheaval Dome. Short hikes, big views, practical tips, and a standing question: meteor strike or salt dome collapse.

• Mesa Arch hike overview and viewpoints
• Trail etiquette and protecting cryptobiotic soil
• Grand View Point rim trail highlights and river layout
• Parking pressure, timing, and safety around crowds
• Upheaval Dome theories: meteor impact versus salt uplift and collapse
• Route-finding with cairns and a second overlook payoff
• Recommendations on best spots and day pacing

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Please stay on trails and establish roadways, as you can damage the fragile crust
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Chapters

• 0:00 Kicking Off The Utah Road Trip
• 0:24 First Look At Mesa Arch
• 1:44 Etiquette And Trail Stewardship
• 2:19 Hiking The Grand View Rim
• 3:27 Crowds, Parking, And Timing
• 4:10 Upheaval Dome: Two Big Theories
• 5:54 Second Overlook And Final Thoughts
• 7:30 Wrap-Up And Ways To Connect

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hey there, this is Craig the Natural Medic. I'm in Canyonlands National Park. I live in the sky district today. Gonna do a little hike down to Mesa Arch. This is officially day one of my seven-day road trip checking out all the Utah National Parks. Come on with me. Okay, the moment of truth. There it is. Mesa Arch. Let's get a closer look. Okay, I'm standing on the far end of it. Not actually on the arch part, but I'm on the far end. The arches over there where those people are. I mean, I wouldn't say it's as spectacular as arches. But still pretty cool. It's not a very long trail down here. Took me maybe about 10 minutes. But nice view. And I guess it's Mesa Arch because it's right on the top of the mesa. On the edge of a cliff. Alright, a little bit closer view of the arch. Everybody's lining up to take their pictures. But that's pretty cool. So that's pretty much it for this viewpoint. I'll get down there and kind of look through the thing here in a moment. Pretty crazy view down there. I don't know how far of a fall that is, probably 200 feet or more. Wow. Okay, there's the arch behind me. Pretty cool view. Lots of folks here today, so we're gonna go into the next spot. Keep following. If you're liking this video, make sure to give it a thumbs up so other people can see it on YouTube. I've reminded you already, but I'll remind you again. Please stay on trails and establish roadways as you can damage the fragile crust. The fragile soil. Thanks. Okay, now I'm at Grandview Point. I'm walking on the rim trail, which is about a two-mile round trip. So let's see what we can find out. Let's keep going. Gorgeous views out here. This trail takes you to Grandview Point. Properly another half a mile or so down the trail. So come on with me, let's keep going. Okay, this is actual Grand Point. The other is a overlook of Grand View Point. The Green River is coming through here. Colorado's to the east.

unknown: 3:07

Wow.

SPEAKER_00: 3:09

There are some old roads down there, but don't know if those are still active. You can see the parking lot. There's vehicles up there parked. There is White Rim Road again. And that's the Colorado River area there. Alright, that was about it for that hike to Grand View Point. I thought I was seeing everything at Grand View Overlook, but you actually see more going the other direction. And going down the trail along the rim to get a lot more stuff. They are continuing to expand this area for more parking. I've run into that several times today. There's not a lot of parking and it's mid-October. Still a popular park and a bit more popular than they can keep up with. You may have to park on the roadside. Just use caution when getting out because people are not necessarily watching, they're kind of taking in the scenery. Alright, so I'm doing Upheaval Dome is my last hike of the day here at Canyon Lands Island in the sky. This is what it looks like. They don't really know how I got here. Either it's a meteorite impact or a salt dome uplift. But if you do this incline trail, which goes around there, really don't have a view of the crater. I'm gonna go to the second overlook, is my plan. Should take about an hour to an hour and a half, about 1.8 miles total. Not too bad. Like going to the Grand View Point trail I did earlier today. Let's take a look and see what we can find. I don't really know what form this here at Update. Upheaval dome. One theory is it's a salt dome that might have collapsed. The other theory is it's a meteor. Upheaval dome from the first overlook. Pretty cool. And two theories about it are out there. One is that it's the salt dome that fractured and kind of collapsed over time. The other one is a meteorite impact. Both happened millions of years ago. According to the sign, there's two those two prominent theories are there with good evidence, but nobody really knows what happened. We'll take a look at those signs in just a second. Here's the two pre-revaling theories. As you see, it's a large depression in the earth. It could be seen from space. It's about two miles wide. And regardless of what you think, it happened hundreds of millions of years ago. Okay, I'm at the second overlook. Do you think a meteor hit and caused this? Or do you think it was a saw dome that collapsed? I don't know myself. Both of them have reasonable expectations and answers. The climb was definitely a lot easier than I anticipated. So I'll take it. Not gonna be good to it today. Gonna try to go to Dead Horse Point for a little bit. Definitely let me know your answer in the comments. Was it a meteor? Was it a salt dome that collapsed? Yep. Yep, into the trail. It's not super well signed, but it's not super well unsigned either. Just watch for signs and cairns setup. So good transition point between overlooks. The second overlook is on top of this mound here, kind of where that person is standing. Over there. Alright, that took an hour and 15 minutes to go 1.5 miles to the second overlook and back. Not too bad. Really interesting view up there, so I definitely recommend this one. It's unusual. I don't think you'll see anything like that anywhere else, really. If you like the video, give it a thumbs up. Think about subscribing to the channel. If you have any questions or comments about Canyon lands or about that particular trail or anything in particular, just drop it below. If you're listening on the podcast, send me an email. Until next time, I'll see you on the trail. Okay, bye.