{"id":12309,"date":"2021-01-24T22:21:24","date_gmt":"2021-01-24T22:21:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.acrossutah.com\/wordpress\/?p=12309"},"modified":"2025-10-14T22:04:47","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T22:04:47","slug":"hayduke-through-the-needles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.acrossutah.com\/wordpress\/hayduke-through-the-needles\/","title":{"rendered":"Hayduke: Through the Needles"},"content":{"rendered":"

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For thru-hikers traveling through the southern portion of\u00a0Canyonlands there are many options for traversing the Needles District<\/strong>. I get a few emails every year from those doing the Hayduke Trail<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0asking which is the BEST<\/strong> route. IMHO there really is not a “bad” way through the Needles, but it’s hard to say if there is a “best”. The best-for-you will likely depend on a number of factors such as: amount of time available, eventual direction, need for re-supply and\/or permit, and which sights you want to see the most. I’ve summarized my suggestions below, but see the linked pages for even more detail for each portion:<\/p>\n

The Official Hayduke<\/strong><\/p>\n

The “by-the-book” official route is likely one of the fastest routes through the park. At just over 20 miles a fast hiker could very well get from boundary to boundary within a day and thus bypass the necessary red-tape required to camp within the park (and avoid most of the crowds too). Besides maybe a short diversion to Confluence Overlook<\/a><\/strong>, there otherwise wouldn’t be much time to linger w\/o camping. One could expedite the trip through the park even more via the Bobbys Hole and Ruin Park Alternate <\/a><\/strong>skipping the sandy Butler Wash<\/strong> portion of the official route and likely get to Beef Basin<\/strong> in even less time.<\/p>\n

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Cyclone Canyon<\/p><\/div>\n

“Heart of the Needles” Alternate<\/strong><\/p>\n

The efficiency of the official route comes at a cost of arguably not being the most scenic. The\u00a0“Heart of the Needles” Alternate<\/a><\/strong> alleviates this somewhat with just a few added miles to dissect the namesake of the area and see\u00a0Chesler Park<\/strong>\u00a0and the Joint Trail<\/strong>. Of course if you go this way you might be tempted to also include upper Elephant Canyon<\/strong> where one can likely fill up on water en route to seeing the impressive Druid Arch<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 Doing this will likely require camping in the area for a night though (and an in-demand permit reservation).<\/p>\n\n\t\t