Dead Horse Point State Park

In southeastern Utah, near Moab, is the beginning of the vast canyon lands of the southwest.  Two national Parks, Arches and Canyonlands, are here.  Between them, a peninsula of high ground juts out over the lands eroded by the Colorado.  The peninsula necks down to a narrow point less than 100 feet wide, with 600 foot high cliffs bordering it, dropping away to the Colorado, 2000 feet below.  It is a spectacular setting.  It is Dead Horse Point State Park.

The name comes from a practice in which wild horses were driven onto the peninsula, and the narrow neck barricaded, so the horses could be captured.  With no way to escape, and with no water, delayed return of the cowboys meant horses that died of thirst.

The backstory is not pretty, but the setting is.

I have wanted to get here for years, but every time I came by, the campground was full.  Finally, this year, I managed to find a spot.

While I was here, Rain came through.  It was a fringe of the storm that so devastated southwesterly Utah.  After the rain passed, with no idea of the devastation being wrought elsewhere, I grabbed my camera and went to the overlook.  The air was spectacularly clear, the colors were deeper, and the clouds made contrasts of light below that drew me.

In the photo below, center image, that grey-ish promontory is Pinnacle overlook, 15 miles away.

A final sunset shot, and it is time to leave Dead Horse Point State Park for you to discover in your own way.