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 DEAD HORSE POINT STATE PARK sits atop
a narrow peninsula 2,000 feet above the Colorado River. At the
end of the peninsula are breathtaking 270 degree views of the
red-orange canyons of Canyonlands National Park and surrounding
areas. It is definitely worth a stop if you're visiting the Island
in the Sky District of Canyonlands.
The name of the park comes from the legend that
cowboys once chased wild horses onto the peninsula
and fenced off the narrow 30 yard neck to create a
large corral. They selected the best of the herd
for use and left the rest. Horses left in the
corral when the cowboys left were unable to find
their way out and died en masse, leaving just their
bleached bones as a reminder. (Whether the cowboys
remembered (or bothered) to take down the fence is
unclear.)
Dead Horse Point is located on a spur road that
splits off Hwy. 313 a few miles before the entrance
to Canyonlands' Island in the Sky District. The
park entrance is 31 miles southwest of Moab and 40
miles south of I-70. To plan your route, select
Utah
Map,
Southeast
Utah Map,
or Dead Horse
Point Area Map.
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