Fellow fresh board member and Texan (Austin) reporting in. I made a trip to Canyonlands NP in June. I had never been to that part of the country before and absolutely loved the entire area. Give it some serious thought as a destination.

I didn't think the drive was bad at all. I left after work on a Friday, crashed in Lubbock that night, and lazily made the rest of the drive to arrive well before sunset the next day.

The climate was great as well. It gets warm during the day and there is usually little or no shade, but there is zero humidity and it cools off to be very pleasant during the night. Not surprisingly water sources are scarce so extended backpacking takes some planning. The park materials cover it all though and clearly indicate where sources are available.

As for crowds: Moab is the tourist hub of the area and was packed to the rafters. Arches National Park is right to the north of Moab and was obnoxiously crowded - like no parking spaces at the trailheads crowded. It was worth the visit to dayhike around the sites, but I was annoyed with the crowds too much to really enjoy it.

There are two main entry points to Canyonlands that are accessible with a normal car - Island in the Sky and the Needles. Island in the sky is closer to Moab and therefore more crowded. The Needles is at least a good hour away from Moab and therefore gets much less attention. I didn't have time to do any extended outings (was chained to a computer working during many of the days), but there looked to be some great multi-night trips to be made out of the trails starting from the Needles.

All in all its a really unique and beautiful part of the country.