Scenic pullout · Canyonlands National Park
A quick roadside look at Candlestick Tower and the canyon below.
Overview
Look at the top and you’ll see a cluster of narrow rock columns rising from a broad base, the shape behind the name. The tower is Wingate Sandstone, formed from windblown desert dunes about 200 million years ago. Its isolated outline stands above the surrounding canyon layers.
Parkwolf’s verdictWhy it’s called Candlestick TowerMap
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
Candlestick Tower Overlook“You're nearing Candlestick Tower Overlook, a small pullout for a distant look at the sandstone butte. Its broad base supports a cluster of narrow columns, the shape behind the name.”
Plays as you drive up to Candlestick Tower 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
Candlestick Tower Overlook is a small roadside pullout in Canyonlands’ Island in the Sky district. Across the broad west-facing view, Candlestick Tower rises as a freestanding, roughly 450-foot sandstone butte. This is a quick look at the landmark, not a walk to its base; I’d stop if you’re already driving this part of the park and want to see the formation that gives the pullout its name.
The tower is visible from your vehicle or from the paved pullout, which has room for about four or five cars. Closer to the canyon rim, the ground is rocky, uneven, and unpaved. The turnoff can be easy to miss, so put the stop in your navigation before you set out.
Keep looking past the tower: the view opens across Canyonlands, with the Green River far below. For a phone photo, leave the tower small enough in the frame to show the canyon benches and cliffs around it; a tight crop loses the scale that makes this stop work.
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
EasyMesa Arch Trail0.6 mi · 36 min · 1 mi awayShort loop, cliff-edge arch, canyon views framed by the La Sal Mountains.
ChallengingMurphy Loop Trail10.8 mi · 6 hr · 1.4 mi awayLeave the rim, circle the hogback, and earn the climb back.
EasyMurphy Point Trail3.4 mi · 2 hr · 1.4 mi awayOpen mesa grassland gives way to a huge Green River overlook.
ModerateAztec Butte Trail1.4 mi · 1.8 hr · 1.5 mi awayTwo slickrock scrambles: one for canyon views, one for granaries.
ChallengingWilhite Trail11.4 mi · 7 hr · 2.5 mi awayStrenuous 11.4-mile out-and-back to White Rim Road through Holeman Basin.
ChallengingGooseberry Canyon Trail4.6 mi · 5 hr · 3.7 mi awayDrop to the White Rim, then climb 1,500 feet back up.
EasyWhite Rim Overlook Trail1.8 mi · 1.5 hr · 3.7 mi awayAn easy slickrock walk to wide canyon and river views.
ModerateFalse Kiva Trail1.9 mi · 1.8 hr · 4 mi awayA rough, cairned descent to wide views over Holeman Canyon.
Sight · 1 mi awayMesa ArchFamous for sunrise glow; the canyon view is worth a later stop.
Sight · 1.1 mi awayGreen River OverlookSee the Green River as a thin line 1,300 feet below.
Campground · 1.2 mi awayWillow Flat CampgroundA quiet, no-frills base near Green River Overlook and dark skies.
Sight · 1.6 mi awayAztec Butte GranariesTwo 900-year-old granaries tucked beneath a protective rock overhang.
Sight · 2 mi awayBuck Canyon OverlookA quick eastward look across the White Rim.
Sight · 2.5 mi awayMurphy PointA long mesa walk pays off with a wide Green River panorama.
Picnic area · 3.7 mi awayWhite Rim Overlook Picnic AreaPicnic tables and a vault toilet beside the overlook trailhead.
Campground · 3.8 mi awayGooseberry Camping AreaTwo remote sites make a night on the White Rim possible.Parkwolf’s Canyonlands ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
