Canyonlands National Park Needles District GROUP Campsites

The Needles is a remote district located within the southern portion of Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah, at an elevation of approximately 4,900 feet. It is 1.25 hours driving time from Monticello, Utah, and 1.5 hours from Moab. The group sites offer groups of 11 or more an opportunity to stay in a remote setting in a unique national park. This is a remote district with limited services and no cell coverage. The Dutch Oven site has access to potable water, flush toilets, picnic tables and fire rings; the other two group sites, Wooden Shoe and Split Top, have access to potable water, non-flush toilets, picnic tables and fire rings. The sites are best suited to tents and small, self-contained campers and RVs — RVs and trailers over 25 feet (7.5 m) will have difficulty accessing them. Peak season runs March 15 to November 15. The Needles District's extensive hiking trail system provides many opportunities for both short and long day hikes as well as overnight backpacking trips. Foot trails and four-wheel-drive/mountain biking roads lead to such features as Confluence Overlook, Druid Arch, the Joint Trail and Chesler Park. The group sites lie within the slick rock and sand that give this region its character. The dominant forest type consists of 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 Needles Campground. Moab, Utah, 1.5 hours away, offers numerous restaurants, shops and museums.