After spending a little more time with the local rangers in the Moab Visitor Center, we decided that “The Maze” section of Canyonlands National Park was simply too far away to drive and return to our hotel for another night (2 hours each way just to the gate). But “The Needles,” which appeared equally scenic and challenging to hike through, was much more accessible, about an hour to the south. Since we would be driving back to Phoenix the following day, we checked out of our hotel early on Tuesday and headed down there, planning to stay somewhere that night in the nearby town of Monticello, UT, figuring that move would cut about 100 miles off our trip home on Wednesday.
