In the southern part of Utah, the Colorado and Green Rivers carve the high desert (the Colorado Plateau) into a wonderful labyrinth of canyons. Over millions of years, the rivers and their small tributaries have carved the flat sandstone rock layers into many amazing forms with a wide range of colors. The vast landscape offers numerous vistas of rust-colored pinnacles, high mesas, sculpted buttes, sandstone spires and sheer crimson cliffs.

The canyons divide the park into three major sections - Island In The Sky, The Needles, and The Maze.