Canyonlands National Park

Wednesday - 30 March 2005 - Dead Horse Point State Park, Utah: A very, very windy morning and day! I had to get up in the middle of the night and put the satellite dish down, so it wouldn't go flying off the roof of the coach. How do people live like this? Sand blowing everywhere! When we woke up this morning, we had to dust and vacuum the entire coach - a film of thick red dirt covered everything. This can't be good for our electronic equipment - computers, printers and cameras.

Today we were all moving 30 miles up the road to the top of a mesa to camp for a few days in Dead Horse Point State Park. It is a very beautiful part of Utah - the point overlooks Canyonlands National Park! Steve, Kris and Michael left first; Mom and Dad followed. DT and I were last - with Delaney. When we pulled-out of the sandy campsite, our tires created a small canyon in the red dirt and it was severe enough that we needed to report our misdeed to the proprietor.

Delaney and DT headed up to the top of the mesa in the motorhome and I followed in the toad (towed, get it?). DT had already warned Delaney about the wild animals they would encounter on the road to Dead Horse Point - and, on cue, the herd of cows and calves appeared on the road side - there is open range on the top of the mesa. We are all dry-camping here, though they do have 20 amp service. All water in the park is actually trucked in from Moab!

View to the Colorado River from Dead Horse Point State Park

Dead Horse Point is an amazing place. There is an only-30-foot-wide land bridge to cross the end of the mesa. Cowboys (and Indians) would herd cattle and horses out to the point. It was easy to keep them corralled by simply fencing the 30-foot wide bridge. (Sadly, it seems someone forgot, at one time, to open the gate and many horses died of thirst here - hence the name... anyway that is the legend and I am hoping it is wrong.)

We all spent the afternoon in Canyonlands National Park. DT and I visited this park two years ago - but in a much different way - so it was fun to see it from the top, instead of the bottom. We drove from one mesa (Dead Horse Point) to another - the famed "Island in the Sky" mesa, which is the main part of Canyonlands National Park. We drove the entire "Island" today, stopped at all the view points, but I must say, it was SO windy and SO cold, I didn't get out of the car very often! It is in Canyonlands that the Colorado and Green rivers meet. Canyonlands is the home of the famous "Cataract Canyon" - the fabulous white-water rafting Mecca. Here are a few photos of our day - from the few times I ventured from the car:

Canyonlands view


Grand View Point


Shafer Canyon


Shafer Canyon and Shafer Road - this is the road DT and I traveled on in Canyonlands two
years ago - in a 4x4, driven by a guide! (When I saw this view of our past route, I nearly fainted.)

Tonight we enjoyed spaghetti at Mom & Dad's RV. I contributed a fairly decent focaccia, considering it spent the afternoon raising in my fridge. Fun was had by all - but it was an early evening. Everyone is tired from the windy day, it is 32 degrees outside and still very windy!

RV Park: Dead Horse Point State Park