Overview
The Needles is a remote district located within the southern portion of Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah. The Needles District 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. Group sites have limited services and are best suited to tents and small, self-contained campers and RVs. If you are looking for individual campsites, visit the Canyonlands Needles District Campground page.
You may book group campsites up to six months in advance throughout the peak season – March 15 – November 15.
Please, also read “ Facilities ” below and the “ Need to Know ” tab for important information.
Recreation
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.
Facilities
The Needles is a remote district with limited services and no cell coverage. Group sites offer groups of 11 or more an opportunity to stay in a remote setting in a unique national park. RVs and trailers over 25 feet (7.5 m) will have difficulty accessing these sites. 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 tiolets, picnic tables, and fire rings. You may reserve individual campsites at the Canyonlands Needles District Campground page.
Natural Features
The Needles District group sites lie within the slick rock and sand that give this region its character. The dominant forest type consist 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.
Nearby Attractions
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.
The description, directions and fees are the National Park Service’s own words, from its record on Recreation.gov.