That's Bighorn Mesa looming 1300 feet over the Green River Valley, an impressive section of Utah's Canyonlands called Labyrinth Canyon. This wonderful Stillwater section of the Green River has fast become a favorite of canoeing and kayaking fans, taking multi-day trips through BLM land and the National Park's Island-in-the-Sky and Maze districts. Covering a large section of southeastern Utah, there are few places in the world that compare to this dramatic canyon scenery. This addition to the Utah's Grand Circle of National Parks, Canyonlands was established in 1964 and added 337,598 acres to park inventory.
   After millions of years of rock-building or sediment collection processes in southwestern United States, the uplifting Colorado Plateau signaled a new beginning of activity by the Green and Colorado rivers. This land, bending to the rules of erosion, began the canyonlands creation roughly 10 million years ago and continues today along the faster moving river rapids. But in the Stillwater section, river speed has slowed to a crawl, dropping only a foot and a half in elevation for every mile.
   Interesting artifacts, pictographs and ancient dwellings give canoeists a good excuse to stretch their legs. Marvelous side canyons contain the remnants of an 1000 years old ancestral Puebloan culture. Fort Bottom Ruin remains one of the historic reminders of residents from the past, a tower-like rock structure that is found throughout the Southwest.

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