Needles Overlook

Overview

About Needles Overlook

Why stop

Wide views across canyon country toward the Needles and Abajo Mountains.

Heads up

A long separate drive from US 191; the Needles themselves are distant.

Needles Overlook is a developed viewpoint outside Canyonlands National Park, at the end of paved Canyon Rims Road. It looks across broad canyon country toward the park’s Needles district. Keep it in the plan for a wide panorama; skip the detour if you want to stand among the spires. The Needles are part of the distant view, not close at hand.

Parkwolf’s verdictIs the detour for you?

Map

Where it is

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Full map

SightNeedles Overlook38.26010, -109.69634

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Plan your stop

Before you go

Getting there and taking a break

From Moab, drive about 32 miles south on US 191, then 17 miles west on paved Canyon Rims Road to the end of the pavement. This is a separate route from UT 211, the road into The Needles. The long spur makes this a deliberate side trip. Sheltered picnic tables and vault toilets make a break here easier, but bring your own food and water.

2 active Canyonlands alerts

ClosureRain-damaged Needles backcountry roads impassableRecent rains have made several Needles backcountry roads impassable; do not drive these routes.Official details
CautionMaze access roads require high-clearance 4WDOnly use high-clearance 4WD to reach Hans Flat or Horseshoe Canyon in The Maze; low-clearance vehicles are not recommended on these damaged, rutted, muddy routes.Official details

Canyonlands alerts

A park ranger sits on a dash-mounted phone, talking, as Parkwolf’s Tour Guide plays “Army Cutworm Moths: A Grizzly Bear Buffet” on Grand Loop Road below Dunraven Pass in Yellowstone — Parkwolf Tour GuideThe highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.

Canyonlands Tour Guide

Your drive to Needles Overlook, narrated.

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 tour

43 audio storiesacross Canyonlands’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
Wildlife heatmapsfor Bighorn Sheep, Mule Deer, Coyote, and 13 more
Works offlinemaps, 63 trails, 65 places, and audio download before you lose signal
CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive

★★★★★

“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!!!!”

JMJamesApp Store review

4.7 from 8,600+ ratings

Guide

More about Needles Overlook

Walk the rimFrom the parking area, follow the railing around the point.

From the parking area, follow the railing around the point. The view shifts as you move north, west, then south toward the Abajo Mountains, so take a little time to look from more than the first opening. For a photo, frame the canyon with a stretch of the rim or railing; that gives the faraway formations some scale.

The view and its nameThe panorama takes in Canyonlands, BLM Indian Creek and the Abajo Mountains.

The panorama takes in Canyonlands, BLM Indian Creek and the Abajo Mountains. The Needles district got its name from the colorful spires of Cedar Mesa Sandstone that dominate that part of the park. From here, they sit across a much broader canyon landscape, which is the point of this overlook.

Wildlife

Wildlife in Canyonlands

All Canyonlands wildlife maps

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 map

Sighting maps show where each species has been reported across Canyonlands. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.