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Six miles down Grand View Point Road from the Island in the Sky visitor center at Canyonlands National Park, you can right turn on Upheaval Dome Road. This road leads to a few great viewpoints and trails.
Green River Overlook
The first attraction is a road on the left that leads to the spectacular Green River Overlook and Willow Flats campground. Click here to see some of my photos from the Green River Overlook.
Aztec Butte
Next, on the right is Aztec Butte. A moderate two mile round-trip trail leads to the top of Aztec Butte where there’s a small archaeological site. A spur trail takes you to the top of a smaller butte with two small Puebloan granaries.
Holeman Spring Canyon Overlook
Further up the road on the left is the Holeman Spring Canyon Overlook, where you can get fantastic views of the canyon.
Whale Rock
Near the end of the road after the Alcove Springs trailhead is Whale Rock, which is a large rock shaped like a whale. There’s a short one mile round-trip climb up the rock for views of the surrounding area.
Upheaval Dome
Finally, at the end of the road is the Syncline and Upheaval Dome trailheads. Syncline is a difficult loop just over eight miles long, while the Upheaval Dome takes you on a one mile round-trip to a viewpoint for Upheaval Dome (add another mile for a second viewpoint). We only went to the first viewpoint.
For many years scientists weren’t sure what Upheaval Dome really was. One theory stated that it was formed by the impact of a meteorite, while another said that it’s a salt dome. Tests by NASA in 2008 confirmed the meteorite theory after shocked quartz was discovered, which is only possible in a high-pressure impact or nuclear explosion.
