Renee Gordon writes about our visit to Dead Horse Point State Park
Dead Horse Point State Park is located near the Island in the Sky entrance to Canyonlands National Park. This park has a dramatic overlook that in my opinion provides the best perspective of the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands. The park name is based on the historic use of the land by cowboys. They used to corral wild horses using the cliff faces as natural barriers at which point they could choose which ones they wanted. For an unknown reason, the horses at one time were left fenced off, abandoned for a prolonged length of time they all tragically died of thirst. You may recognize the images of this area because it was featured in the final scene of the popular movie Thelma and Louise, 1991.
After buying an Annual National Parks pass for the both of us we weren’t particularly happy to have to pay for State Parks separately. Although Dead Horse State Park is a must if you are in this area, they overcharge in our opinion. It is $10 per vehicle for the day, but you could literally just drive to the overlook, snap a few photos and then drive back out. We decided instead to bike around the park since there were mountain bike trails, and only pay $2 each. Note to anyone planning to do this: wear copious amounts of bug spray, we were again surrounded by swarms of biting flies. The bike trail we took was called the Great Pyramid Loop Trail, it was 6.8km long. It was mostly a sandy track and pretty easy-going.
For more information on Dead Horse Point including maps check out the state park website here.
Photos from Dead Horse Point State Park
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Great photos! Utah has some of the most unique land that I’ve ever seen.
Glad you agree. I’ve been telling everyone Utah is amazing since I visited.