Once a great river feeding into a giant lake, The Thousand Needles is now a grand canyon of hundreds of stone pillars (hence “The Thousand Needles”) leading to a large, dry lakebed called the Shimmering Flats. The great salt lake used to lead to the ocean but after the Sundering, the mountains rose and eventually, its waters evaporated leaving it flat and smooth. Access to the canyon floor from the Barrens to the north is by an elevator named the Great Lift. Upon the rises in the canyon is the largest Tauren camp in the area, Freewind Post, with two smaller camps further north, Whitereach Post and Camp E’Thok and to the south with Ironstone Camp.

In the old lake bed, the Silithids have surfaced driving off a recent dwarven exploration team who discovered a cave upon the site. The Goblins and Gnomes take advantage of the wide, flat expanse to race test vehicles at the Mirage Raceway. The region is covered in metal parts from some of the less successful creations with one horrendous accident near the northern end of the track called Weazel’s Crater. You can still find water at the remains of a Tauren camp in the south, Tohanda Ruins, but it is extremely salty and the basilisks there keep most people away.

Centaurs roam the northern section of the canyon near the Barrens and are a constant threat to the Tauren camps. The wind howling through the seemingly unsteady rock formations make even the most hardened traveler nervous that the rocking stone will come crashing down upon them.