The Needles district in Canyonlands National Park features an extensive trail network with numerous routing options that vary in length, difficulty and scenery. Popular routes include the Lost Canyon - Squaw Canyon Loop and Lost Canyon - Elephant Canyon Loop. The Peekaboo Trail runs over long slick rock benches to ancient pictographs and granaries left by the Ancestral Pueblo people.

Cedar Mesa Sandstone was deposited during the Permian Period (245 to 286 M years ago) as local sand dune sediments mixed with dark red sediments from the ancient Uncompahgre Mountains

The Fremont people lived mostly in central Utah, and the ancestral Puebloans occupied the Four Corners region; these cultures can be distinguished by their different tools, pottery and rock art

Pictographs on the Peekaboo Trail were created between AD 1000 - 1300 during the Ancestral Puebloan occupation of Salt Creek

Opposing movements of the Monument Uplift and Paradox Formation resulted in jointed rock fractures that would later erode into the Needle formations we see today

In 2015 the International Dark Sky Association named Canyonlands as a Gold Tier International Dark Sky Park

The Monument Uplift caused Cedar Mesa Sandstone to crack as it bent upward, forming a series of fractures (called joints) that trend from east to west

Scrambling steep slick rock is required on the Peekaboo Trail, a challenge amplified with inclement weather

Travel is fairly intuitive through washes, though entry and exit points can come abruptly and are easy to miss

The Ancestral Pueblo grew maize, beans and squash, and kept dogs and turkeys - using cool, dry granaries to store and protect food

Sandstone fins reveal more durable rock layers, the result of differential erosion

Canyonlands receives comparable precipitation to other American deserts - about 9 inches per year

High slickrock sections provide an excellent vantage of the area's complex topography.

Keep your eyes open on the Peekaboo Trail - several unmarked granaries can be found tucked in surrounding rock formations

Rock Art takes many forms and requires interpretation - hand symbols are among the most common throughout the world

Canyonlands formed over millions of years through the deposition, compression and erosion of various sedimentary layers

The Peekaboo Trail is marked by rock cairns, which lead the way over slickrock and vague terrain

From a geological perspective, only a trace of iron is needed to color a rock red

Rock formations funnel water into verdant prairies, an oasis for local wildlife

Evidence of human habitation dates back 10,000 years in Canyonlands, with rock art left throughout the ages and telling stories from each era

The Peekaboo trail passes through a small window arch

Tafoni are small, rounded, smooth-edged openings in vertical rock surfaces that often have a honeycomb-like appearance