The Geologic Story of Canyonlands National Park

by Stanley William Lohman

ARCH, in upper Davis Canyon, looking northwest. Photograph by E. N. Hinrichs. (Fig. 48)

THE NEEDLES AND THE GRABENS

THE NEEDLES, looking southwest from Squaw Flat. (Fig. 49)

CHESLER PARK IN THE NEEDLES, aerial view looking northeast. Photograph by Walter Meayers Edwards, © 1971 National Geographic Society. (Fig. 50)

The northeastern edge of The Needles proper can be seen from Squaw Flat ([fig. 49]), but the true character of The Needles can be appreciated better from the air ([fig. 50]). You cannot get far into The Needles without traversing part of The Grabens, so we will consider them together. An aerial oblique view ([fig. 51]) shows The Needles in the foreground and The Grabens in the middle background. As shown on the map ([fig. 1]), you can hike into The Needles and The Grabens from Squaw Flat, but let us make the trip using a four-wheel-drive vehicle and several short hikes.

THE NEEDLES AND THE GRABENS, aerial oblique view looking west over Chesler Park in foreground, The Grabens to the right, and Cataract Canyon behind. Photograph by U.S. Army Air Force. (Fig. 51)