This is a moderate full day after you have enjoyed your breakfast at your lodging watching the sun rise. You will want to take a picnic basket and water with you as you will be away from concessions throughout the day. Your first turn will be at the visitor’s center in Monticello. Head west on 200 South and follow the “s” curve which turns into Abajo Drive. On the mountain ahead of you is the famous Horsehead Mountain. The trees and clearing are shaped as a horse head looking towards you. Continue west as you leave town. This highway goes for about 18 miles and joins Highway 211. At the stop sign turn left and head down into INDIAN CREEK which is the new national monument created by Pres
Trump. Your first stop will be at NEWSPAPER ROCK STATE PARK, an amazing panel of ancient rock art that you will definitely want to see. Restrooms are there, also.
Continue west on highway 211 you will pass Hideout Ranch which was the largest cattle ranch in the world at one point, over 2 million acres. As you continue, you will recognize the movie sets of dozens of old western movies. You can almost see John Wayne and Roy Rogers chasing the bad guys with the Six Shooter buttes in the background.
Also, this is the world famous INDIAN CREEK ROCK CLIFF CLIMBING AREA. You will pass by parking areas on the right side of the road, and if you slow down and look up on the rock cliffs you can see people climbing the cracks and crevices on the 200 foot cliffs. For a small fee I am sure they would be happy to rent you their gear and help you take a climb!
As you continue west you will come to the Canyonlands National Park Visitors Center. After the visitors center where you will get your park maps, you can drive around the park and see many sites Remember, if you are there in the evening, you will see the amazing display of the Night Sky. The closest star to our sun is 4.3 light years away, or about 25 trillion miles. You can see millions of stars. The newest galaxy recently discovered on the Hubble Telescope is 13.3 billion light years away. You can see all this in the park, or you can leave the park for about 2 miles and turn left at Hamburger Rock and drive down to the falls, a fun place to cool off in the stream or in the water pour off.