America's Great Outdoors
Monitor Butte sails through frosty clouds and over an icy sandstone sea at sunset, just beyond the Canyonlands National Park boundary.Photo: National Park Service 

Monitor Butte sails through frosty clouds and over an icy sandstone sea at sunset, just beyond the Canyonlands National Park boundary.

Photo: National Park Service 

It’s monsoon season in southern Utah. Every day, storms build over the mountains and then slide over the landscape in seemingly random directions. They bring much needed rain but usually to only a small swath of desert. It’s a bit like the lottery, and the Needles in Canyonlands National Park was a lucky winner.

It’s monsoon season in southern Utah. Every day, storms build over the mountains and then slide over the landscape in seemingly random directions. They bring much needed rain but usually to only a small swath of desert. It’s a bit like the lottery, and the Needles in Canyonlands National Park was a lucky winner.