Parking
Start at Gooseneck Trailhead on White Rim Road. Single-day vehicle trips require a day-use permit; the road requires a high-clearance 4WD vehicle with low range.
Overview
About Gooseneck Overlook Trail
Why go
- A distinctive Colorado River bend reached on a short walk
- Salt-distorted rock layers add a second point of interest
Heads up
- The remote, permit-controlled 4WD approach is a much bigger commitment than the walk
Gooseneck Overlook Trail is an easy 0.6-mile out-and-back round trip from Gooseneck Trailhead on White Rim Road. Allow about 30 minutes for the rocky path to a ledge above a tight bend in the Colorado River. The walk is short, but reaching it means a remote White Rim drive that requires a permit and high-clearance 4WD with low range; it makes most sense as a stop on a planned trip along that road.
Parkwolf’s verdictIs it worth the stop?Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Canyonlands map
Full mapElevation4,744–4,833 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
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
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Canyonlands Tour Guide
Your drive to Gooseneck Overlook Trail, 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 tourMore stories near here in the app
- A Thin Coat on the Cliffs
- Island in the Sky Visitor Center
- Shafer Canyon Overlooks
- Lathrop Trailhead
- 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!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Gooseneck Overlook Trail
A short, rocky pathFollow the path east from the trailhead to the overlook, then return the same way.
Follow the path east from the trailhead to the overlook, then return the same way. The walk has about 98 feet of elevation change. Its uneven rock makes it unsuitable for wheelchairs, and dogs aren't allowed on the trail.
Look at the rock as well as the riverAt the end, the Colorado curves around a broad red-rock promontory.
At the end, the Colorado curves around a broad red-rock promontory. The rock layers beside the path have been distorted by salt pushing up from below, so there's more to notice than the river bend. The bend and its red-rock foreground make the defining view here; the canyon country and La Sal Mountains stretch out beyond it.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Canyonlands
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.
