Morning rush hour is a nightmare for most of us with boring office jobs.  As you sit in standstill traffic you, contemplate how easy it would be to just turn around and go back home to apologize to your mattress forever leaving its warm embrace. But then you remember that food costs money, and you like food. So you fulfill your obligation of sitting at your desk and working on things that you really don’t care about.  As you stare at another blank excel spreadsheet, you think to yourself, “I put up with a lot of crap in order to get food.” Life could be worse though, you could have to wake up at sunrise and wander through the desert, hunting for your next meal (which for some of us actually sounds like more fun). But if your thinking of quitting the sedentary lifestyle and want to go back to your animal roots and hunt for your own food, you may want to take some notes and see how the wildlife in Canyonlands National Park handle the morning commute. A great place to watch this is Pothole Point, in the Needles district.

Lots of Slickrock

The trail starts down the road about 5 miles from the Needles District Visitor Center. The trail is almost entirely over Slickrock so make sure you have the appropriate footwear and make sure you follow the cairns (For more on cairns see our other post).

The trail is super short so this is a great warm-up hike or a quick one to do if you’re on your way out of the park.

The Morning Commute

Wake up as early as possible and make some strong cowboy coffee at camp for this one.  The trail was initially created for people to view the potholes within the slick rocks that contain tiny organisms but a better reason is to see some wildlife.

As the sun rises, so does nature. This hike offers opportunities to see jackrabbits, lizards, mule deer, and rock squirrels. The animals are just waking up too so have some decency and be quiet as you walk around.

In fact, if it hasn’t rained the days prior to the hike, the potholes will be dry. It’s also worth mentioning that there really isn’t any dramatic views from the “point”. You can get the same views anywhere in the park so we recommend doing this hike in the morning or don’t bother doing it at all.

Trail Tips

• It would also be wise of you to bring a pair of binoculars to make your wildlife viewing a little easier.

Chad Albright

Chad can be summed up by his idea of a perfect day: Waking up early to watch the sunrise over the mountains, warm cup of coffee in hand then grabbing his camera and fly rod, hitting the trail to explore some uncharted territory followed by cold beers and campfire steaks. Chad is often joined on his adventures by his wife, Tori, and their dog, Kona.