Grand View Point Trail

 

 

Grand View Point is located at Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands National Park. Grand View Point is at the end of the scenic drive. It provides a grand view over the magnificent canyon carved by Colorado river. The land formation of the canyon was breathtaking. Since Grand View Point is at the end of the road, many people chose to come here first and work their way down to visit each view point.

The Grand View Point trail is right beside the parking lot and it is 2 miles round trip. When we got to the parking lot by 9AM, there was still a lot of parking space. As we got prepared, we actually saw a dog locked in the car. That poor dog must be dehydrated and hot. Fortunately, the owner came back to the car right away.

The weather was extremely hot that day and we did bring a lot of water. There were warning sigh at the trail head with reminders to carry enough water. The trail itself was not difficult at all. There was very little elevation gain and the trail was graded well. We got to the end of the trail rather quickly within 30 minutes.

We were expecting to see some spectacular view at the end of the trail, but the view wasn't much different compared to the scenery at the trail head. It was a little disappointing. We tried to climb on the rock to get to a higher look out point, but the view didn't get more spectacular.

When looking down into the canyon, we did see a few cars doing off roading. That's quite crazy. We were told that the road was even more rough than the one in Cathedral Valley. The cars down there must be Jeep with all wheels drive.

Overall, the Grand View Point trail was an okay trail but not really outstanding. If you don't have much time to spend, it is good enough to see the scenery from the trail head. It still has a great view over the canyon.