Canyonlands National Park Needles District Campground

The Needles is a remote district located within the southern portion of Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah. It is 1.25 hours driving time from Monticello, Utah, and 1.5 hours from Moab, Utah, and sits at an elevation of approximately 4,900 feet (1494 m). The Needles Campground offers limited services and is best suited to tents and small, self-contained campers and RVs. The district's extensive trail system provides many opportunities for long day hikes and overnight backpacking trips. Foot trails and four-wheel-drive roads lead to such features as Confluence Overlook, Druid Arch, the Joint Trail and Chesler Park. This is a remote district with limited services and no cell coverage. Drinking water and flush toilets are available in the campground, and picnic tables and fire rings are provided at each site. There are no RV hook-ups, and the campground does not have electricity, showers or a dump station. Maximum combined vehicle and trailer length is 28 feet (8.5 m). A seasonal campground host is located in Loop A in spring and fall. The campground contains stands of Utah juniper and pinyon pine. Flowering prickly pear cacti, yucca and other desert wildflowers dot the landscape in the spring, adding to the vivid colors of the surrounding red rock desert. The Needles District forms the southeast corner of Canyonlands National Park and was named for the colorful spires of Cedar Mesa Sandstone that dominate the area. The park is within an arid, high desert environment with hot summers and cold winters. Southeastern Utah offers breathtaking scenery, hiking, road and mountain biking opportunities, rafting and scenic driving routes. Arches and Mesa Verde National Parks, the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park, Hovenweep and Natural Bridges National Monuments and Dead Horse Point and Edge of the Cedars State Parks are all within three hours drive of the campground. Moab, Utah, 1.5 hours away, offers numerous restaurants, shops and museums.