Sight · Canyonlands National Park
A quick eastward look across the White Rim.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Canyonlands Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Canyonlands National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Canyonlands audio tourRecorded for this place
Buck Canyon Overlook“Buck Canyon Overlook is ahead, an easy extra stop for an eastward canyon view. A short, wheelchair-accessible paved path leads to the panorama, with the pale White Rim below and the La Sal Mountains beyond.”
Plays as you drive up to Buck Canyon Overlook in the Parkwolf Canyonlands Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Buck Canyon Overlook is a paved roadside viewpoint on the east rim of the Island in the Sky mesa, at 6,240 feet. A short paved path leads from the parking area to the view, and the National Park Service lists it as wheelchair accessible. Keep it as an easy extra stop on Grand View Point Road if you want a canyon panorama without a hike. Parking is limited.
The view runs east across Buck Canyon and the Colorado River canyons, with the pale White Rim below and the La Sal Mountains on the horizon. For a photo, keep the White Rim in the foreground and the La Sals beyond it; including the cliff edge helps show how the canyon walls drop away.
The White Rim is made of Permian sandstone, about 245 to 286 million years old. Its cross-bedded layers began as wind-blown beach sands. That lighter band stands out along the inner canyon rim against the darker, more deeply cut walls.
Buck Canyon is one of several pullouts on the paved Island in the Sky scenic road, between Candlestick Tower and White Rim overlooks. If you have time for only one major panorama, I’d put Grand View Point or Green River Overlook first; Buck Canyon works well as a quick bonus stop along the way.
Wildlife
48 sightingsBighorn SheepMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
47 sightingsMule DeerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
12 sightingsCoyoteMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
30 sightingsWestern RattlesnakeMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
18 sightingsTurkey VultureMost seen around 11 AMSighting map
18 sightingsWild TurkeyMost seen around 7 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Canyonlands. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
EasyMurphy Point Trail3.4 mi · 2 hr · 0.7 mi awayOpen mesa grassland gives way to a huge Green River overlook.
ChallengingMurphy Loop Trail10.8 mi · 6 hr · 0.7 mi awayLeave the rim, circle the hogback, and earn the climb back.
ChallengingGooseberry Canyon Trail4.6 mi · 5 hr · 1.7 mi awayDrop to the White Rim, then climb 1,500 feet back up.
EasyWhite Rim Overlook Trail1.8 mi · 1.5 hr · 1.7 mi awayAn easy slickrock walk to wide canyon and river views.
EasyGrand View Point Trail1.8 mi · 1.5 hr · 2.4 mi awayA short rim walk opens up a much bigger canyon panorama.
EasyMesa Arch Trail0.6 mi · 36 min · 3 mi awayShort loop, cliff-edge arch, canyon views framed by the La Sal Mountains.
ModerateAztec Butte Trail1.4 mi · 1.8 hr · 3.5 mi awayTwo slickrock scrambles: one for canyon views, one for granaries.
ChallengingWilhite Trail11.4 mi · 7 hr · 4.5 mi awayStrenuous 11.4-mile out-and-back to White Rim Road through Holeman Basin.
Sight · 1.6 mi awayMurphy PointA long mesa walk pays off with a wide Green River panorama.
Picnic area · 1.7 mi awayWhite Rim Overlook Picnic AreaPicnic tables and a vault toilet beside the overlook trailhead.
Scenic pullout · 2 mi awayCandlestick Tower OverlookA quick roadside look at Candlestick Tower and the canyon below.
Campground · 2.1 mi awayGooseberry Camping AreaTwo remote sites make a night on the White Rim possible.
Sight · 2.3 mi awayOrange Cliffs OverlookA quick pullout for Green River canyon views and sunset color.
Sight · 2.3 mi awayWhite Rim OverlookA short walk to White Rim country above Monument Basin.
Sight · 2.5 mi awayGrand View PointA short paved walk opens onto Monument Basin and the White Rim.
Sight · 2.7 mi awayGreen River OverlookSee the Green River as a thin line 1,300 feet below.Parkwolf’s Canyonlands ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
