Overnight Hike in the Needles District | Canyonlands National Park

Angie and I had permits for a 4 day hike at Salt Creek in Canyonlands National Park's Needles District for October 12th. The day before our hike was planned we stopped at the Needles Visitor Center to get any helpful info the rangers might have on the trail. While doing that they let us know that there was a chance of snow at the trailhead which was down a dirt road that can get pretty bad when it's wet. Because of this info we decided to opt out of that hike so we wouldn't end up getting stranded on a messy mountain road. Thankfully we were able to pop in at the backcountry office to change our permits up.
The backcountry ranger was super helpful when it came to changing up our plans, there was a large detailed map that showed where all the campsites were. He listed off the available campsites and let us know that Lost Canyon 1 was available and that it's a decent site that sits on some pretty hiking trails so we decided to go with that one. Instead of a 4 day 20+ mile out and back we would be doing a 2 day 8 mile hike. Better than totally cancelling though!
The route we picked was known as the Lost Canyon/Squaw Canyon Loop and we parked at the Squaw Flat Campground Trailheads. There is likely to be some name changes in the near future with the places with "squaw" in the title. Recently Interior Secretary, Deb Haalland, announced that the term will be removed from any trails, mountains, lakes, etc on federal lands. Before that announcement I didn't know it was an offensive slur (although not surprised that the NPS would use a derogatory term). While like the case with many other name changes I'm sure this will spark controversy for those that want to keep the names for nostalgia sake but for me being inclusive to Indigenous People and their culture that has been on this land much longer than mine is more important.
Overall the hike was lovely and nothing to hard, there were a couple scramble but nothing too tricky, this could easily be done in a day but we enjoyed it as an easy backpacking trip.

[@debbieblock7248]

So pretty. I'm glad you're able to video your adventures and share with us at home.

[@WanderingBlock]

I'm happy to share them! It's always fun going over the memories again and again when editing too.

[@NathanProctor]

Great video!

[@WanderingBlock]

Thank you!!