Canyonlands National Park

Canyonlands National Park
Looking over the Green River from Island in the Sky
Map showing the location of Canyonlands National Park
Map showing the location of Canyonlands National Park
Location in United States
Map showing the location of Canyonlands National Park
Map showing the location of Canyonlands National Park
Location in Utah
LocationSan Juan, Wayne, Garfield, and Grand counties, Utah, United States
Nearest cityMoab, Utah
Coordinates38°10′01″N 109°45′35″W / 38.16691°N 109.75966°W / 38.16691; -109.75966
Area337,598 acres (1,366.21 km2)[1]
EstablishedSeptember 12, 1964 (1964-09-12)[2]
Visitors733,996 (in 2019)[3]
Governing bodyNational Park Service
Websitenps.gov/cany Edit this at Wikidata

Canyonlands National Park is a national park of the United States located in southeastern Utah near the town of Moab. The park preserves a colorful landscape eroded into numerous canyons, mesas, and buttes by the Colorado River, the Green River, and their respective tributaries. Legislation creating the park was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 12, 1964.[4]

The park is divided into four districts: the Island in the Sky, the Needles, the Maze, and the combined rivers—the Green and Colorado—which carved two large canyons into the Colorado Plateau. While these areas share a primitive desert atmosphere, each retains its own character.[5] Author Edward Abbey, a frequent visitor, described the Canyonlands as "the most weird, wonderful, magical place on earth—there is nothing else like it anywhere."[6]

  1. ^ "Listing of acreage – December 31, 2011" (XLSX). Land Resource Division, National Park Service. Retrieved 2012-03-06. (National Park Service Acreage Reports)
  2. ^ An Act To provide for establishment of the Canyonlands National Park in the State of Utah, and for other purposes. Pub. L. 850–590 (menu; GPO has not yet published law). 12 September 1964.
  3. ^ "Canyonlands NP Recreation Visitors". irma.nps.gov. National Park Service. n.d. Archived from the original on February 8, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
  4. ^ "Canyonlands Visitor Guide 2014" (PDF). National Park Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 14, 2014. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
  5. ^ "Canyonlands". National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2015-06-19. Retrieved 2011-06-09.
  6. ^ Abbey, Edward (2006). Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast. Milkweed Press. p. 175. ISBN 1-57131-284-6.