Visit Canyonlands National Park, USA

Natural beauty abounds in Canyonlands National Park, one of the last unspoiled corners of the Colorado Plateau. This is the largest and most magnificent of Utah's national parks, covering 527 square miles of canyons, fissures, plateaux and faults, all scattered with buttes, monoliths, arches and caverns.

The park is centred at the confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers, which split the park into three distinctive parts. The Needles, east of the Colorado River, is a wonderland of sandstone pinnacles and the drive there from the main highway is among the prettiest in Utah. The Maze, west of both rivers, is a labyrinth of tortuous, waterless canyons that requires at least a full day of hard walking to access. This is where the tree-lined Horseshoe Canyon can be found with its ancient native rock art. Between the Needles and the Maze lies the high, dry, flat-topped mesas of the Island in the Sky that drop 2,000 feet to the Colorado River below.

The park is largely inaccessible by car so exploration of a more detailed nature necessitates a stay of several days or more.