Dead Horse Point State Park

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.

Dead Horse Point Area Map

Photos from Dead Horse Point State Park

Canyon country from Dead Horse Point.jpg

Canyon country from Dead Horse Point

Renee on Dead Horse Point lookout.jpg

Renee on Dead Horse Point lookout

Sam on Dead Horse Point lookout.jpg

Sam on Dead Horse Point lookout

View from Dead Horse Point.jpg

View from Dead Horse Point

Riding along the rim at Dead Horse Point.jpg

Riding along the rim at Dead Horse Point

Colorado River from Dead Horse Point.jpg

Colorado River from Dead Horse Point

 

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Comments

  1. Great photos! Utah has some of the most unique land that I’ve ever seen.